


Hidden in the Details

by meyari



Category: Smallville
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Kidnapping, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-04
Updated: 2012-12-04
Packaged: 2017-11-20 07:11:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/582689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Bruce receives a secret call for help from his old friend Lex Luthor, he drops the restoration work on Wayne Manor to go to Smallville. Once there he discovers far more than young Clark Kent's fate. Hidden in the details of Clark's abduction are threats to the world's survival, the restoration of a friendship long thought gone and, possibly, the key to Bruce's heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hidden in the Details

**Author's Note:**

> ETA: I forgot to credit my wonderful beta Bradygirl_12 for her help in getting this into shape! Sorry and thank you again for all your help, Brady!

[Chosenfire28 on LJ created art for this story. Please find it here and leave lots of praise for her incredibly good work! :D](http://chosenfire28.livejournal.com/272477.html)

**Chapter One**

_"I know that you're busy, but I could use your assistance with a problem."_

_"It had better not be your father, Lex."_

_"Please. I know better than to put the two of you in the same room, Bruce. No, it's nothing like that. I have a… friend. I think he's in trouble."_

_"Friend?"_

_"Just a friend, nothing more. He's… he's like my little brother and he's disappeared. I can't find him."_

_"You've tried?"_

_"He's been gone for four days, Bruce. The last time he was seen was at my home. I just… he's my friend, my only friend anymore."_

_"…I'll see what I can do."_

Bruce drove slowly down Smallville's main street. The town was tiny, though not as tiny as some places he'd seen during his travels around the world. It looked and felt like Smallville had been left behind, as though the modern age had barely touched it. There was the old fashioned hardware store full of goods of every description. Someone had updated the theatre into a coffee shop and series of boutiques.

"Three blocks for the downtown core," Bruce mused as he followed his directions out of town towards Lex's mansion. "Not much room for hiding someone in town."

He frowned as he drove through the fields outside of town. While the town was small enough that everyone had to know what their neighbors were doing, there was quite a bit of space outside of town for things to happen out of sight and mind. The farmhouses he passed were mostly hidden by tall stalks of corn and other crops. A young man could easily have disappeared out here.

Two farms that he passed had for sale signs on them. They both looked as though they were functionally abandoned. The houses were closed up but Bruce knew how easy it was to pick a lock. Add that to the fact that the houses were set far away from the road and Lex's young friend could have been held in a basement or storm cellar and no one would hear him screaming for help.

The Luthor mansion was every bit as ornate as Bruce had expected. He smirked as he pulled up in front of the front door. To his practiced eye, there were obviously places where Lionel had worked to make the building more impressive when he moved it to Smallville. Bruce chuckled and strolled up the front stairs.

"Still trying to outdo the Wayne's, Lionel?" Bruce murmured while waiting for the butler to open the door. As the door opened Bruce put on Brucie's bright smile. "Hi, is Lex home?"

"Ah, yes sir," the butler said while blinking at Bruce as if he had no idea what to make of him.

He led the way down the hallway to a pair of double doors. Along the way Bruce spotted several bugs that he was reasonably certain Lex wouldn't have placed. Given Lex's long hatred of being spied on; they had to have been installed at Lionel's behest, which meant that Bruce had to be very careful about this meeting. 

The line that Lex had called from had been untraceable and unbugged according to the equipment in the Cave. That meant that Lex had to be worried about someone, obviously Lionel, overhearing him asking Bruce for help. While Bruce had not told Lex that he was Batman, Bruce was fairly certain that Lex must have put the pieces together. They'd been friends for long enough in school and known each other well enough for Lex to know that it had to be Bruce behind the cowl.

"Sir, you have a guest," the butler said as he opened the door.

The sheer hope on Lex's face told Bruce everything he needed to know about how much he cared about his young friend. There was one fraction of a second of intense disappointment and then Lex was standing and smiling as he came around his desk to greet Bruce.

"Bruce!" Lex said as if Bruce's visit was a complete surprise. "I haven't seen you for years. I thought that you were busy rebuilding Wayne Manor."

"I was," Bruce said in full Brucie mode. The butler relaxed next to Bruce and then chuckled when Lex hugged Bruce and patted his back fondly. "Unfortunately Alfred decided that I was being annoying. He suggested rather strongly that I find somewhere else to be while he finished redecorating."

Lex laughed quietly at that. "Is that really what he said?"

"Well, it was more like 'go find someone else to entertain with your scatter-brained behavior, Master Bruce'," Bruce said as he mimicked Alfred's most irritated tones. "I really don't see what the problem was. It was just a vase. And really the blue salon would have looked much better with bright blue paint instead of pale blue."

This time Lex's laugh was much louder and much heartier, a real laugh instead of the polite ones he tended to use when pretending to be amused by something someone did. Bruce grinned at him and then relaxed slightly as the butler withdrew from the room and shut the doors behind him. While Lex shook his head at Bruce's antics as Brucie, Bruce scanned the room as if admiring the decorating.

There was a bug over the fireplace, two on the bookcases flanking it, probably one set into the wall over the pool table in the corner of the room and Bruce was relatively certain that there had to be a camera hidden in the statue gracing the far corner of the room by the back door. It was too perfectly placed not to have been bugged. Lex patted Bruce's shoulder as if trying to find words that weren't scolding him for being a scatter-brained but kind idiot. At the same time he nodded discretely towards the bookcases so Lex at least knew about some of the bugs. Bruce would have to find a way to tell him about the rest of them later.

"So he sent you off to find something else to do?" Lex asked with his wry grin.

"More or less," Bruce said. "And then Lucius, I think you know him? He runs Wayne Enterprises for me. Such a brilliant man. At any rate, Lucius said that I wasn't allowed to bother him anymore after I asked a few too many questions in a board meeting and well, I hadn't visited you in ages."

Lex snorted and grinned wickedly. "So you decided to visit me and see if you could annoy my father, too?"

"Well, I haven't seen you for so very long and I might as well make a full sweep and annoy everyone I know," Bruce said.

He and Lex both grinned at that, though Bruce knew that there was a sad edge to his smile. He truly would make a full sweep of those who mattered to him by visiting Lex. Their respective lonely childhoods had always brought them together. Until Lionel had driven them apart, Lex had been very much like a brother to Bruce. They'd gone in entirely different directions but that old bond still seemed to be there. Lex seemed to feel the same way or he wouldn't have called Bruce for help. 

"Do you still collect cars?" Bruce asked just slyly enough to hopefully make Lionel smirk when he watched the footage of the two of them talking.

"Oh, no, you are not driving any of my cars," Lex huffed with enough real annoyance that Bruce didn't need to pretend to grin.

"I didn't say a word about driving them," Bruce said so overly innocently that Lex cursed at him under his breath. "I was just wondering which cars you had."

"You would want to go pet the cars," Lex grumbled. "Fine. We can go look at the cars but you're not driving a single one of them!"

"No, of course not," Bruce said. "I'd hate to crash your car, Lex."

"I did not crash your car," Lex huffed as if Bruce had just accused him of murder. "The other guy was drunk and he smashed into me."

"Really?" Bruce said while blinking exaggeratedly for effect. "How odd. That isn't how I remember it at all."

Lex's cursing preceded them down the hallway. Along the way Bruce noticed six more bugs that Lionel must have placed. His memory of the mansion's blueprints turned out to be accurate as Lex led him down the hallway Bruce expected, down a short flight of four steps and then into the sort of garage that Alfred would strongly approve of.

It was obvious that Lex's favorite car was his Porsche. Road dust had settled into the edges of the windshield and there was a bit of mud on its tires. The other cars in the garage were pristine, other than one limo that looked like it might get used on occasion. None of the other cars had tracks leading to the doors of the garage. Lex caressed the Porsche as he passed it and then pointed out the other cars as they walked the length of the long room.

One car at the far end was covered by a drop cloth that looked as though it was rarely touched. Bruce grinned at the wheels that peeked out from under it and then laughed at the sour look on Lex's face. Lex looked as though he was regretting bringing Bruce down to the garage, especially when Bruce carefully pulled the drop cloth off to reveal Lex's prize Aston Martin.

"You still have it," Bruce said while running reverent fingers over the glossy black hood.

"As if I'd get rid of it," Lex said.

They both grinned when Lex firmly shoved Bruce away from the driver's side of the car automatically. It had been one of the last things that they'd done together before Lionel drove them apart. Bidding on and winning a 1937 Aston Martin had been a silly thing for a pair of high school boys to do but it had been battered and in need of a huge amount of restoration. That was the only thing that let them afford it. By the time they'd restored the engine Lionel had made it nearly impossible for the two of them to spend time together.

"It's beautiful," Bruce breathed as he settled into the passenger seat. "It turned out better than I expected."

The two-seater was a thing of beauty, sleek black with black leather interior. Every piece of chrome was polished to such a high gloss that it made Bruce's heart hurt. He wished that he could have been a part of bringing this car back to its current state but at least Lex had managed to keep it. As Lex gamely started the engine with a rumbling roar that made them both grin like they were still schoolboys, Bruce pulled out a little device and checked for bugs.

The Aston Martin was bug free.

"Why not take her out?" Bruce asked while tucking the device away again. "You can't have many excuses to drive her around here."

Lex laughed and shrugged as if Bruce had just given him the excuse he'd been looking for. He triggered the garage door opener and then gunned the engine. They didn't quite peel out as Lex had more respect for the lovely old car than that, but they did roar out of the garage quickly enough that a gardener working along the fence skittered backwards. Instead of showing the grumpy expression that Bruce expected, the gardener looked at the Aston Martin with enough obvious approval that Bruce laughed.

"You should drive this more often," Bruce said once they were on the road.

"Bug free?" Lex asked.

"Yes, for the moment," Bruce said. "I imagine that will change if you do drive it more often. I'll map out where the bugs are in the mansion later. What can you tell me about your missing friend?"

"His name is Clark Kent," Lex said. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as they purred sedately down the country roads. "He's just starting his junior year in high school but he's a bit over eighteen."

"Held back a couple of years?" Bruce asked while beginning to build a profile in his head for Clark.

"His parents' home schooled him for several years," Lex explained. "When he started school he entered at the same grade level as his best friend Pete Ross despite being a couple years older than him. Clark is very intelligent, writes for the school newspaper and does his best to help everyone."

He slowed down as they passed a large scorched place along the road, crawling past the location. The fire that had burned there couldn't have been anything natural. Reeds and cattails surrounded the burnt area, which was actually submerged under several inches of water. A frog poked its head out of the water. It had three eyes. When it croaked a small puff of flame emerged from its mouth.

Lex sped back up again once they were past the unnatural frog and its burnt spot. Bruce didn't really need to ask what Lex was implying. He'd heard Lex's stories of losing his hair during the Smallville meteor shower too many times not to make the connection immediately.

"He's different?" Bruce asked.

"Very," Lex said. "Very well trained in keeping secrets, like most everyone in Smallville. Frankly, the FBI and CIA could learn things about secrecy from the farmers who live in this town."

"Hmm."

They passed another for sale sign, this one old and battered enough that Bruce wondered if it had been left up after the property had been purchased. He could see signs of recent demolition work near an old barn that looked like it was one strong breeze away from falling down. Bruce filed the location as another possible site to hide a kidnapped teenager.

"What sort of changes did the meteor rocks inflict?" Bruce asked. "And don't say that you don't know. You're nearly as observant as I am, Lex."

"Officially I know nothing," Lex said with a nod to Bruce. They turned and drove through town as if Lex was giving Bruce the tour. "However, he has super speed, enhanced strength, may be invulnerable to nearly everything that life can throw at him, is possibly affected abnormally by the meteor rocks, may have enhanced vision and hearing and is so paranoid about anyone finding out about his abilities that I would describe him as profoundly phobic."

"Ah," Bruce said, nodding grimly. Not a good thing to be phobic when one had an enemy or enemies who kidnapped you; Bruce wondered if the boy had any allies at all given his fears of discovery. "What do you mean by abnormally affected?"

They both stopped talking as they came to a stop at one of the two stoplights in Smallville's downtown. People passing on the street stared at Lex's Aston Martin, all with some level of appreciation for a beautiful old car but some with obvious knowledge and blatant covetousness. Lex got a couple of cheers from some of the old timers when he gunned the engine before driving away once the light changed.

"You really do need to drive this more often," Bruce chuckled.

"You may be right about that," Lex laughed. Once they were out of downtown there were far fewer people walking on the sidewalks. Lex checked his rearview before continuing. "Most people and animals are simply mutated by the meteor rocks. Dad's been studying their effects for ages, though God knows why. They're hideously dangerous. Clark responds entirely differently. I've observed him respond to green meteor rock as though it caused him extreme pain. Red meteor rock produced effects rather like that really good narcotic I brewed up senior year."

"Really?" Bruce asked while staring at Lex.

"Paranoia, greed, extreme lowering of inhibitions, flashes of anger, increased libido, and a far greater likelihood to break the law," Lex listed while shrugging. "And this in one of the most law-abiding sober young men I've ever met in my life. Clark Kent defines truth, justice and the American way. Two pieces of apple pie is a big indulgence to Clark."

"How in the world did he get an enemy who would kidnap him?" Bruce asked with a surprised shake of his head.

When Lex didn’t answer Bruce thought that he had his answer. Lionel had never liked Lex to have friends. Acquaintances that could be used to further the Luthor business or casual lovers that could be used to satisfy sexual urges were acceptable. Actually being friends with someone was 'a risk' or 'opening oneself to betrayal' in Lionel's mind. Add that to Clark being a Meta of some sort and there was little need to look farther than Lionel Luthor for the cause of Clark's disappearance.

Bruce would investigate further, of course, but he doubted that his first instinct was wrong. Lex wouldn't have been so circumspect in contacting Bruce if Lionel weren't involved in some way. They cruised past Smallville High School. A young blonde woman spotted Lex and glared at him so ferociously that Bruce marked her down as possible trouble in his mind. She was with a young black male who glowered at Lex.

"Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross," Lex said once they had driven past. "They're Clark's only friends other than me. The young lady ahead with the exceedingly stylish twinset is Lana Lang, his former girlfriend. She's just back from Paris. They broke up before she went overseas."

Lana smiled appreciatively at the Aston Martin, realized who was driving it and then sniffed as if she'd just stepped in manure. She stalked on, walking as though she was a big city girl instead of a young woman who had spent her life in this town. There was something about her movement and behavior that made Bruce think 'secrets, dangerous' so he mentally marked Lana down as someone to keep an eye on. It might not be justified but you never knew. 

They paused while driving past the high school's football field. Bruce stiffened to see Jason Teague coaching the team. Lex shrugged as if he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it either. Jason spotted the Aston Martin and whistled. The whistle died a nasty death when he realized that Bruce was with Lex in it. He went white and turned back to the team with enough tension in his posture that the teens around him obviously asked what was wrong.

"Lana and Jason met in Paris," Lex explained. "Supposedly by accident, though I have some doubts about that. They're currently carrying on a mostly secret love affair."

"There's more going on here than I thought," Bruce mused.

"Always," Lex said dryly enough that Bruce frowned at him. "I have so much data on the 'secret' goings on in Smallville." 

"Does Clark have any connection with Genevieve's obsession with the mythical Elements of Power?" Bruce asked.

"I… don't know," Lex admitted slowly enough that Bruce put it down as 'probably but there is no direct proof at this time.'

They drove out of the town and out into the fields on the other side of Smallville, still going at an unusually sedate rate for Lex. For such a small town in the middle of Kansas there were a great many things going on. Bruce wondered how many of the strange events in Smallville could be tied back to Clark Kent. 

"I need to meet his family somehow," Bruce said a couple of minutes later. "Preferably in such a way that they think that it's completely by accident."

"I'll take you there," Lex said. "They're on the other side of town from here so you can enjoy more of the bucolic pleasures that Smallville has to offer."

**Chapter Two**

The drive from one side of Smallville to the Kent farm was probably a very short one normally but Lex took Bruce the long way around, pointing out various places where things of note had occurred. The bridge over the Loeb River had been repaired in the last couple of years so there were few signs of where Lex and Clark had met. Lex's description of the event combined with Bruce's analysis of the bridge, the river and the height that they had fallen made him quite certain that Clark had to have some level of invulnerability. He knew how fast Lex normally drove. The impact must have been horrific.

Once they reached the Kent Farm, Bruce was in for another surprise. The farm was larger than he'd expected, which tallied with Lex's speculation that Clark's strength and speed made it easier for his father to keep the farm running, but to Bruce's eye it looked like the vast majority of the work was accomplished without Meta assistance. It seemed to Bruce that Jonathan Kent was simply a very hard-working man who took great pride in his livelihood.

The barn was solid, though obviously quite old. A short distance away, the house looked as though it was well taken care of. Flowers filled the front yard. There was a kitchen garden that looked to produce enough food to feed the residents easily. The bright yellow paint was fresh and the trim was perfect.

As they slowly drove down the lane Bruce spotted Jonathan Kent working on one of the fences. His expression was so obviously admiring of the Aston Martin that Bruce nodded for Lex to stop. It was a risk but the old car deserved some admiration and Jonathan's long, low whistle of appreciation made Bruce think that it might be okay despite some inevitable friction between the missing Clark's father and Bruce as an intruder in his life.

"When did you get that, Lex?" Jonathan asked with so much raw lust for the old car that Bruce laughed.

"High school, actually," Lex said and then laughed at the suspicious look Jonathan gave him. "Bruce and I bought it together. It was a wreck in desperate need of to restoration at the time."

"We couldn't have afforded it otherwise," Bruce agreed.

"And you are?" Jonathan asked suspiciously enough that Bruce didn't pull on his full Brucie mannerisms. A man like Jonathan Kent wouldn't respond well to his feckless millionaire routine.

"Jonathan Kent, this is my first and oldest friend, Bruce Wayne," Lex said. "Bruce, this is Jonathan Kent, Clark's father."

"A pleasure to meet you," Bruce said honestly enough that Jonathan relaxed a tiny bit and actually shook Bruce's hand.

He was still very tense and wary, watching both Lex and Bruce as if he expected them to do something stupid or ask the wrong questions at any second. If Clark had learned to be terrified of telling anyone about his powers, it made sense that he would have learned the fear at home. Jonathan certainly didn't seem to look as though he welcomed Lex in his son's life. Given Lionel's tendency of destroying those who befriended Lex, it wasn't surprising.

"Likewise," Jonathan said as if it wasn't really a pleasure at all. "What are you doing in Smallville? Thought you had that big house in Gotham to rebuild."

Lex spluttered into a belly laugh that Bruce deliberately rolled his eyes at. Jonathan stared at them for a moment but as Lex's laughter continued long enough for tears to appear in his eyes and for Bruce to be annoyed at him, a smile flirted with Jonathan's lips. Bruce grumbled wordlessly and smacked Lex's shoulder lightly.

"Stop that," Bruce complained. "My butler Alfred-"

"Who raised him and is like his second father," Lex interrupted unapologetically.

"Alfred got a little annoyed with my suggestions on the redecorating," Bruce continued with a hard glare at Lex that was totally ignored. "So he suggested-"

"Ordered in a formally precise English butler tone," Lex interrupted again, doing the English butler voice for effect.

"That I go find someone else to annoy," Bruce growled and now Jonathan was grinning at both of them openly. "And since I hadn't seen Lex since Lionel ran me off in high school I decided to come here-"

"And annoy Father who indubitably needs to be annoyed in every way possible," Lex finished for  
Bruce.

Jonathan started laughed while shaking his head at the two of them. He leaned on one of the fence posts and just grinned for a moment. When he looked at Lex the expression in his eyes was a good deal more intelligent and perceptive than Bruce expected. Salt of the earth he might be, but Jonathan was no one's fool. 

"Thought you didn't have any friends, Lex," Jonathan said with just enough snap to his voice to make Lex wince.

"Just Clark," Lex sighed. "I haven't seen Bruce since high school."

"Lionel made visiting… impossible," Bruce sighed. "Since my parents had been dead for years, I had no one with the authority to tell him off. Trying to visit also made things worse for Lex so I stopped making the effort after a while."

To Bruce's surprise, Jonathan glared towards the mansion as if he could see Lionel and wanted to give him a piece of his mind. Bruce noted that, wondering if it came from more than a missing son who still hadn't come up in the conversation. It seemed quite odd that not one mention of Clark had come from either Jonathan or Lex, other than that brief introduction.

"That… right," Jonathan said, obviously cutting himself off before he said more than he intended to. He obviously intended to get back to work, which didn't suit Bruce's need to probe for more information.

"Lionel didn't think that Lex should associate with a 'mere orphan'," Bruce said just caustically enough that some of his true feelings on that subject were exposed. "Charity for the unfortunate was acceptable but Lex wasn't supposed to enjoy associating with me. Sometimes I thought that Lionel believed that it would give Lex ideas."

Jonathan's jaw tensed and his shoulders went hard as a rock. It was a disproportionate reaction to the orphan card, which somewhat surprised Bruce, but Lex barely reacted at all to Jonathan's anger. After a second, Jonathan let out a harsh gust of air that might have been a subvocalized curse word directed at Lionel.

"That man deserves… " Jonathan stopped himself, muttering under his breath for a second.

"Trust me," Bruce said dryly, "you're not thinking anything that I haven't thought before. I had virtually no true friends other than Lex. It's part of why I decided to go on my trip around the world. There really was no one other than Alfred and Lex. When Lex was no longer a part of my life it was easier to justify just walking away. I do regret doing that to Alfred. My disappearing for so long hurt him quite deeply, I think."

"He really is like a father to you," Jonathan observed.

"Very much so," Bruce sighed. "Even before my parents died he was important to me. Alfred… became my whole world after their deaths. I don't think I would have made it to adulthood without him. So many people discount the emotions between children and their adopted parents. They just don't understand how real that bond can be." 

He deliberately gazed over the fields of the Kent farm rather than meet Jonathan's eyes. Jonathan's expression was still visible out of the corner of his eye, as was Lex's quietly watchful expression. Bruce seemed to have found the proper thing to say to open Jonathan up because he went from suspicious and covertly hostile to openly nodding in agreement with Bruce. There was a lot of pain in his face that Bruce ignored as Jonathan stabbed one finger at Bruce.

"Yes," Jonathan exclaimed. "We adopted Clark and he's as much our son as if he was our flesh and blood. I can't tell you how many people have said things about how 'unfortunate' it was that we couldn't have a child of 'our own'. Idiots, every single one of them. Clark is our son, in every way that counts. He belongs here with us. We're his parents, he's our son, and that's all that matters."

By the time Jonathan managed to stop talking there were tears in his eyes and Lex looked desperately uncomfortable. Bruce sighed, frowned and cocked his head at Jonathan as if concerned. The concern would probably net him a better response than simply asking outright what he thought had happened to Clark, especially given that Jonathan seemed to blame Lex for Clark's disappearance.

"Is something wrong with your son?" Bruce asked. "You seem upset."

"He's missing," Jonathan snapped as he openly glared at Lex. "Four days now. No one's seen or heard anything."

"When was he seen last?" Bruce asked.

Jonathan seemed to take Bruce's obvious concern well, even though he was still glaring at Lex. He jerked his chin at Lex who almost succeeded in suppressing his wince. Lex crossed his arms over his chest in response. It was more as though he wanted a hug and expected to be punched than a gesture of defiance, but Bruce was very familiar with Lex's tells. The gesture appeared to be taken as defiance by Jonathan.

"Last time he was seen was coming back from Lex's place," Jonathan snarled. "He supposedly started back but he never made it home."

"Did he have a path he followed?" Bruce asked just a hair too intensely. Jonathan looked at him suspiciously. "I have experience in tracking from my trip around the world, Mr. Kent. I'm not a professional but I'd be more than glad to look and see if I can find anything. Any clues are better than none, right?"

"The police are looking for him," Jonathan said as his voice hitched and he stared down at the fence post he was fixing. "They've done several searches. Clark ran away over the summer. They're convinced that this is another round of that."

"Just because they're convinced of something doesn't mean that they're right," Bruce declared in a voice that was entirely too close to Batman's. "Police are people, Mr. Kent. They make mistakes. They make assumptions. They could be wrong and your son could be in danger."

When Jonathan stared at him as well as Lex, Bruce growled and forced his shoulders to relax, as well as to unclench his fists. The police in Smallville might very well be perfectly competent but Bruce doubted it. He would check later, of course, but Bruce hardly cared at this moment. If he could convince Jonathan that he could help, it was far more likely that Bruce could make some progress and that Clark would be safe instead of dead.

"You really care about this," Jonathan commented. "Why?"

His glare was suspicious, as if he expected Bruce to prove himself, which was justified. Bruce was the intruder here, and he'd arrived at Lex's side.

"My parents were murdered in front of me, Mr. Kent," Bruce said. He never had managed to fully hide the pain that came from saying that out loud. "I watched them die. The police… they did their best but… I have seen entirely too much of how easy it is for the police and prosecutors to make mistakes. Your son could be in danger. He could be hurt. It…"

"You can't let that go," Jonathan finished for him as Bruce's voice cut off on him.

He sighed as Bruce nodded. When Jonathan looked at Lex it was with enough suspicion that Lex raised his chin and glared defiantly. From the way that they glared at each other it was obvious that Jonathan realized that Bruce had come because Lex had called him in. After a moment Jonathan snorted and shook his head.

"You know who took him?" Jonathan asked low enough that anyone listening in would have a hard time hearing them, even with proper listening equipment.

"No," Bruce said. "Not yet. I will. I have some suspicions."

"Bet I know who you suspect," Jonathan grumbled.

He looked back at the yellow farmhouse in silence for long enough that Lex started twitching. Bruce refused to allow himself to fidget as he waited for Jonathan's response. Eventually Jonathan turned back to Bruce with the same pain in his eyes that Bruce felt every time he thought about his parents' death.

"Clark has a path that he follows through the fields," Jonathan said. "Starts in the gardens around Lex's place and then goes through the fields straight here. Comes out right across the street. I did search our property but there was no sign that Clark had made it here."

"Does that path follow or cross the road anywhere?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, twice," Jonathan said and both Lex and he responded to that by straightening up. "Up close to the turn off to the Luthor mansion and then again close to Davenport's auto shop. Of course the last road crossing is across the street from our house. Right over there, as a matter of fact."

He pointed across the road to a gate through the fence about a hundred feet away. Bruce could see even from this distance that the gate was well used, both by cattle, equipment and people. The urge to go and examine the site was overwhelming but Bruce turned back to Jonathan. Excitement thrummed through his veins. This was a lead, a lead he could follow easily.

"Has the gate been used since he disappeared?" Bruce asked.

Lex chuckled at the excitement in Bruce's voice, while Jonathan smiled at him as if he was amused by Bruce being excited to investigate. The automatic snarl inside of him was firmly pushed down. Better that Jonathan thought it was simply the excitement of a boy who'd lost his parents helping to save a lost child than he realize that Batman was on his side.

"Once," Jonathan said. "I headed through it to walk his path but I didn't find anything."

"All right," Bruce said, mentally noting what sort of boots Jonathan wore. "Lex and I had better continue on our tour. I'm sure that Lionel will show up soon to castigate Lex for associating with the Wayne orphan. I should be able to do something soon."

"Anything is better than nothing," Jonathan said. His voice shook just enough for Bruce to wonder how his wife was dealing with this entire situation. He cleared his throat and went on in a much gruffer tone of voice. His fingers clenched on the rail as he looked towards Clark's path to Lex's mansion. It looked to Bruce as though he desperately hoped to see Clark come striding out onto the road towards them. When nothing happened, Jonathan cleared his throat and glared at the rail. "I better get back to work. This fence won't fix itself."

Before either Lex or Bruce could say anything Jonathan was back at work on the fence. Lex jerked his head at the Aston Martin so Bruce climbed into the passenger side. They drove away. When Bruce looked back Jonathan hadn't looked up once. He sighed and frowned over the hood of the car. Lex continued to drive slowly and sedately, winding their way back towards the mansion.

Instead of going straight there Lex drove him around Crater Lake. Along the way he pointed out the crossing points of Clark's walking path so that Bruce would be able to find them later. As they finally drove up the road to the mansion Bruce frowned at Lex.

"How much of that was Jonathan assuming that you follow in your father's footsteps and how much was him worrying that you're corrupting his son?" Bruce asked.

"I'd say about seventy-five percent is my father's legacy," Lex said quite calmly. "The rest is very much Jonathan worrying about my seducing or otherwise corrupting Clark."

"And are you going to seduce him?" Bruce asked just to see what Lex's response was. It wasn't as though Bruce would object if Lex was interested in Clark that way.

"Certainly not," Lex huffed. It was his real huff of anger, not one of the affected ones that he used for Lionel and various society people he was trying to impress. "I told you, Clark's like my little brother. I care about him, don't get me wrong, but he's in no way someone that I want to seduce. No matter what anyone thinks about our friendship, I just want him to be safe."

Bruce nodded thoughtfully. They both sighed as they drove up to the garage. Lionel's Rolls Royce Phantom was waiting for them in front of the correct door to the garage. The petty little insult of blocking them from returning the Aston Martin to its home was just like Lionel. Lex waved to one of the staff, gesturing imperiously for them to move the Royals.

"Any hypothesis?" Lex murmured as they waited for the Royals to be moved.

"You need to ask?" Bruce murmured back.

They exchanged looks. Genevieve Teague might be up to something in Smallville but at this point in time Bruce would bet nearly any amount of money that Lionel was responsible for Clark Kent's disappearance. Now he just had to find proof of that as well as locating where Clark had been hidden. The sooner he managed to do that the better.

**Chapter Three**

Slipping out of the mansion after dinner was a simple matter, far more simple than Bruce had expected given that Lionel was there. Fortunately for Bruce, Lionel seemed more interested in needling Lex than he did in making disparaging comments about Bruce. It was a small blessing that Bruce was delighted to take advantage of. As long as Lionel was busy with Lex, Bruce was free to do some more in-depth investigation.

It only took a few moments to find the mansion end of Clark's walking trail. One of the gardeners pointed it out when he saw Bruce wandering around, though he seemed to think that Bruce was looking for a nice long path to take so that he could avoid being in the mansion for Lionel and Lex's argument, which was loud enough by now to be heard outside.

The path Clark followed headed towards Hob's Pond, so designated by small signs pointing the way, before branching off to the southwest through the trees surrounding the mansion. The ground was somewhat hilly in that area so the path wound through the hills rather than crossing directly over them. Not too far after he headed south-west, Bruce found the trail trending back towards the south-east as if Clark had chosen this route to ensure that he stayed in the trees for as long as possible. Given his abilities, Bruce supposed that Clark might have deliberately chosen a route that allowed him the most cover possible, not that much cover was available in Kansas' flat fields.

The damp cool earth between the trees was excellent for retaining footprints. There were many footprints along the way but all of them matched with two pairs of shoes. One looked like a pair of Lex's shoes. Those tracks were quite recent, within the last day or two. Bruce frowned at one particularly clear track. From the way the toe and heel had scuffed and dragged Lex had been very close to running when he made it.

The other set of tracks were incredibly varied. In some places he found just the tip of Clark's shoe, as if he'd been running all out. That made sense except for the fact that those footprints were spaced a dozen yards apart and their depth indicated that Clark had barely put any weight on his feet. Bruce calculated the momentum Clark must have had to make the footprints and shook his head. He truly had no idea how anyone could believe that Clark was a normal young man.

Underneath, on top of and interspersed with the clearly abnormal footprints were completely average ones made by the same set of shoes. He could see places where Clark had kicked stones ahead of himself, walked cheerfully, and at other times heavily, as if something was weighing his mood down.

By the time he neared the place where the path crossed the road, Bruce felt as though he had a fairly good reading on Clark's normal behavior. Most of the time, he was happy as he walked from the mansion to his parents' farm. His mood was upbeat and his steps light and happy. Bruce would bet that Clark enjoyed visiting with Lex and looked forward to his time at the mansion. Occasionally, his steps were heavy and the time spent with Lex didn't improve his mood. And then from time to time some small town emergency drove Clark out of the mansion and along the path as if he was dashing off to rescue someone from terrible danger.

"I wonder if he does rescue people," Bruce mused as he paused within the shelter of the trees and studied the place where the path crossed the road.

Given Clark's abilities and what Lex had already said of Clark's basic personality, Bruce had to assume that Clark did help when those around him were in danger. It was likely that he did his best to keep his help a secret. The probable phobia of discovery would require at least minimal efforts towards secrecy though Bruce suspected that what Clark thought of as 'keeping the secret' was completely different from what Bruce thought of as adequate.

The trees sheltering Bruce extended to within about four yards of the road. While grass grew along the side of the road it appeared that the county regularly trimmed it close to the ground, which meant that the last few yards were exposed. Once across the road and into the field on the other side, Clark would be completely hidden from view. Tall stalks of corn grew high enough that they were well over Bruce's head. It wasn't a year-round cover but right now it would be perfect for concealing Clark from anyone's view.

Dusk had fallen during his walk, which made it somewhat harder for Bruce to see signs of Clark's passage. The freshest set of tracks continued up to the road. Bruce's eyes narrowed as he realized that there was a wider bit of shoulder where Clark's path crossed the road. It was the perfect location to pull a car off the road.

He slowed, carefully studying the gravel and earth. Someone had pulled off here within the last five days. The wheel base matched closely with a Rolls Royce Phantom limousine. Dark thoughts filled Bruce's mind as he methodically searched the turn out area. His hunch that Lionel was responsible for Clark's disappearance strengthened.

The Royals had sat for approximately an hour before it drove away. The tire tracks tended to indicate that it was carrying three people when it pulled in. They were deeper when it pulled out, by what Bruce would guess was approximately one hundred eighty to two hundred pounds. Around the location where the side door on a Royals limo would be there were signs of a struggle. It looked to Bruce as though Clark had approached the Royals somewhat hesitantly, been jumped and then, oddly, collapsed before he was dragged into the limo.

"Drugs?" Bruce murmured as he checked around the site of the struggle for what could have caused Clark to collapse. "Odd."

A careful examination of the grass revealed several small rocks that appeared to be extraterrestrial in origin. Bruce's pocket flashlight made them glint green. He nodded slowly as he pocketed the meteor rocks. It appeared that Lex's deduction about the green meteors weakening Clark and causing him pain was quite correct.

Even though full dark was approaching, Bruce crossed the road and followed Clark's path for several hundred yards. There was no sign that Clark had been there in the correct timeframe. The most recent prints that he could detect were days older than the ones he'd seen previously.

Bruce stood and returned to the edge of the road.

"Clark left the mansion," Bruce murmured. "Someone knew he would pass this way but they didn't know when. They, meaning Lionel, waited for him with a supply of meteor rock to ensure that Clark didn't struggle. When Clark emerged from the trees Lionel said or did something that enticed Clark closer. When he was close enough, Lionel pulled the meteor rock out and Clark collapsed. They pulled Clark into the limo and drove off."

He frowned, certain that he knew where Clark had been abducted and how. The question was now why and where he'd been taken after he was kidnapped. If Bruce was very lucky Lionel had a location somewhere close that he'd hidden away his prize. A second, very important question was whether he could find some way to prove that Lionel was involved.

A second careful search of the shrubs at the far end of the tire tracks turned up a branch that had scraped through paint; black paint that Bruce carefully collected in a tiny plastic bag in the hopes that he could match it to Lionel's Royal's. The tire tracks were likely not going to last much longer but a paint match would do very well in linking Lionel to Clark's disappearance.

"The question is how Clark didn't feel the meteor rocks in advance," Bruce mused as he made his way up the path and back to the mansion. "If there's a range or a way to suppress their effect then Clark could have been surprised. Or these could have been there all along and there needs to be a certain amount of it to affect him."

The Royals was still parked in front of the garage, sitting athwart the doors as if it was belligerently blocking anyone else from leaving. Bruce took a path towards the front door that allowed him to scan the passenger side of the Royals. The front bumper very near to the headlight had a recent and very distinct scratch that matched with what Bruce would have expected. He ran his fingers over the edges of the scratch as if molesting Lionel's car and gathered some paint chips that he carefully enclosed in a second small plastic bag.

The first bag went in his left pocket. The second went in his right. In the morning he'd have to find a way to get the samples mailed back to Alfred for analysis without notifying Lionel of what he'd found. Right now, Clark's greatest hope was that Bruce could find him before Lionel realized that Bruce was on his trail. Still, proving that Lionel was responsible would take careful data gathering so that a proper legal case could be made. Before he went inside he put a tracer inside the front wheel well in the hopes that it would lead him to Clark.

When he made his way back inside of the mansion Lionel appeared to have stormed off somewhere. Bruce found Lex in his study, glaring into the fireplace which had had a glass broken into it. As soon as Bruce opened the door twin emotions of hope and fury swept over Lex's face, only to be replaced by sad resignation when he saw that it was Bruce.

"Got lost wandering around?" Lex asked.

"The trails around your mansion are much more extensive than I expected," Bruce said in the low-level Brucie voice that made him seem only mildly idiotic and incapable. Lex's lips twitched in appreciation. "I never quite made it to the pond but I did get a lovely view of a cornfield off that way somewhere."

Lex chuckled and raised one eyebrow as Bruce waved south-west instead of south-east. "Pity. It's a very nice little pond."

"I did find some souvenirs," Bruce said as he pulled the meteor rocks out of his pocket. "They're pretty enough that I thought I'd bring them back for Alfred."

He placed them in Lex's palm. Lex frowned, turning the two little rocks over in his palm. After a moment he held one up to the light. Green light reflected over Lex's worried face. When Bruce held his hand out Lex hesitated before giving them back.

"You should be careful with those," Lex said in a not quite casual tone of voice. "They do give off a low level radiation that has had some strange effects."

"Really?" Bruce said as if he'd never heard that before.

"Mmm-hmm," Lex said. "I wouldn't recommend keeping them, honestly. I personally feel much better when any meteor rocks I encounter are enclosed in lead. It stops the radiation from affecting me or anything in the environment."

"Ah," Bruce replied with a nod of comprehension. "I suppose I'll throw them out. I'd hate to give Alfred something damaging."

"If you like I can dispose of them for you," Lex offered. It seemed to be an honest offer.

"No, that's fine," Bruce said. "I'll just put them back where I found them tomorrow."

Lex nodded and returned to glaring into the fireplace. The argument with Lionel must have been one of the really bad ones. Bruce couldn't see any signs that Lionel had gotten physical with Lex, though as dim as the office was currently that was no true indicator. He suspected that right now Lex would allow Lionel to beat him if he thought that it would distract his father from Bruce's discreet investigation.

Bruce settled down into one of the leather armchairs with a sigh that probably sounded tired. He wasn't actually tired. After spending the last year or so patrolling as Batman every night Bruce's circadian rhythms had very firmly shifted towards the nocturnal. In reality, Bruce was coming up on his most alert time when he was able to concentrate best and get the most done.

After a moment Lex sat on the couch opposite Bruce. He started setting up a chess board which prompted a grin out of Bruce. The set looked well used so Bruce presumed that Lex had been teaching Clark how to play. He smiled. They'd played game after game in school, competing through chess in ways that they didn't allow themselves outside of the board game.

"We haven't had a game in a very long time," Bruce observed.

"Quite so," Lex agreed. "Do you still play Go?"

"Yes."

Lex grinned at Bruce's unabashedly predatory grin. "Maybe we can play a round after we finish this game."

"You think this game will be done so quickly?" Bruce asked as he helped Lex get the pieces set up. "Black or white?"

"You take black," Lex said with a wry smile that made it perfectly clear to Bruce that he truly did know that Bruce was Batman . "I'll take white."

"You always have wanted to be on the side of the angels, Lex," Bruce observed as they rotated the board so that they had the correct pieces.

"Maybe someday I'll actually manage it," Lex whispered so low that Bruce suspected that he hadn't intended to say it out loud.

They settled into the game, silently competing against each other. From the way that Lex occasionally moved his hand as if to correct Bruce's more unusual moves, Clark was used to having Lex explain and help him. Bruce smirked every time Lex did it, which quickly had Lex growling at him and his impulses. An hour later Lex started yawning behind his upraised hand. Bruce let the game continue for another half hour before calling a halt to their game.

"I suppose I should go to bed," Lex grumbled. "Should I show you to your room?"

"No, I'm not sleepy yet," Bruce said. They left their game to be continued tomorrow. "I usually don't go to bed until three or four in the morning."

Lex gave Bruce an arch look complete with a raised eyebrow. "You go to entirely too many parties, Bruce."

"At least I'm having fun," Bruce said with a pure Brucie grin that made Lex laugh out loud. "Since there's so little to do in Smallville you could show me to your library. Maybe there's something there I can read."

"Certainly," Lex replied. 

He yawned again as he shut the office door behind them. The mansion was quiet, though Bruce felt that it had a different sort of quietness than Wayne Manor. Where Wayne Manor had a sort of stately reserve that spoke of age and the sort of reserve that came from generations of the same family residing in the same place, Lex's mansion had a feeling of threat about it. Bruce knew that it was directly related to Lionel's presence in the building coupled with the many bugs that recorded their ambling path to the library but there was nothing to be done about it at this time. Soon enough they would rescue Clark and hopefully finally deal with the threat that Lionel represented.

The library on the second floor was nearly as large as the one that had burned down in Wayne Manor. Bruce sighed sadly. So many books and so much history lost. It was going to be painful rebuilding the library but Bruce would do it eventually. 

"Need anything else?" Lex asked as Bruce gazed around the library.

"No, not really," Bruce said. "Go get some sleep, Lex. I'll see you sometime tomorrow afternoon."

Lex laughed and shook his head. "Don't stay up too early in the morning, Bruce."

He chuckled as he patted Bruce's shoulder good night, leaving Bruce to look around the library for all the bugs. There were remarkably few, only one close to the door and another by one of the windows that overlooked the garage. A fairly large proportion of the room was unobserved by bugs, unless the chandelier had one in it. Bruce made the assumption that it did have a bug, simply to be on the safe side.

Bruce smiled at the books. Hopefully Lex would have what he needed here. If not, Bruce was quite prepared to make a run into town to find the property records for the surrounding area. One way or the other he would narrow down where Clark could be hidden tonight so that tomorrow he could go and rescue Lex's young friend.

**Chapter Four**

"Of course," Bruce murmured as he turned the page to locate the map that should give him a good idea of the surrounding area and found it missing.

Someone had torn the page out relatively recently. The torn edge left in the book was clear and white while the rest of page was somewhat yellowed with age. He snorted. As if lacking a good historical map of the surrounding area would slow him down. Lionel truly was grasping at straws. Bruce flipped through the book and found no other pages missing, which narrowed his search down to two particular farms in the area. The third farm that he'd noted was for sale was on a different page.

Bruce pulled down a history of Smallville, another book that looked like a highly sensationalized account of the meteor showers that had changed so much in the area and then a third book that covered the geological foundations of the county. To his surprise, the third book talked about the extensive cave systems that underlay the farms surrounding him. He wouldn't have expected caves in Kansas but apparently they did exist.

"Odd to find you up," Lionel said from the doorway.

"Hmm?" Bruce murmured while blinking at Lionel with his stupidest and most obnoxiously dimwitted Brucie expression. "Oh, well I'm used to staying up until the early hours of the morning for parties. It's early to me."

"Really," Lionel said.

It was far more of a snarl than a simple reply. Lionel's jaw clenched so hard that his beard bristled at Bruce. Annoying Lionel was always worth it to Bruce so he smiled as if he hadn't the slightest idea that Lionel might be aggravated with him. To his amusement, Lionel clenched one hand into a fist before deliberately forcing himself to relax before sauntering into the library.

"Interesting reading material," Lionel commented as he looked at the books that Bruce had strewn across the table.

"I did have to find something to do tonight," Bruce said. "I had no idea that a small town like this closed down so early. I expected that there would at least be a club to visit."

He'd expected no such thing but saying it in Brucie's most vapid tones made Lionel's shoulders clench so tightly that his jacket rode up nearly to his ears. When Lionel glared at him, clearly trying to tell Bruce to stop pretending to be a moron without saying the words, Bruce batted his eyes innocently back at him as if he had no clue whatsoever what could be bothering Lionel.

"I'm surprised that someone like you would come to a place like this," Lionel said and no, there didn't appear to be any implication that he knew about Batman. It was simply a comment on Bruce's wasted life and lack of biological parents.

"Why, I hadn't seen Lex for so long," Bruce said and this time he allowed the amusement he felt at making Lionel react show. "After everyone in Gotham got tired of me how could I not come and visit my old school chum?"

"Chum?" Lionel snapped as if he found the mere word offensive. "I seriously doubt that my son ever felt about you in that way."

"Companion?" Bruce suggested as if he was trying to help Lionel find just the right word. "Pal? Buddy? Comrade?"

Bruce added another point to his tally when Lionel gritted his teeth audibly. He was getting a bit too close to the point at which Lionel moved from threats and snide comments into something more active and presumably physical. It was a somewhat hazardous game to play with Lionel but Bruce knew that he could handle anything physical the older man chose to initiate, very likely without revealing any of his training as Batman. After all, Bruce was larger and considerably younger than Lionel.

Lionel thumped one hand against a narrow table across from where Bruce had been reading, obviously intending the action to portray annoyance at Bruce's idiotic behavior. There was a tiny glint of glass when Lionel moved away which revealed his real intentions in coming to the library. When he looked, Bruce thought that he saw another bug by the door in the vase of flowers. That one must have been placed when Bruce's back was turned. Between them they covered the portions of the library that had been unobserved before.

"It must have taken you quite a while to annoy all your friends in Gotham," Lionel said with just enough smugness that he must have checked out Bruce's social life prior to coming up.

"Oh, not long at all, actually," Bruce said with a big, innocent grin that held more than a little maliciousness. "You'd be surprised at how quickly people seem to decide that I'm annoying."

Lionel twitched, opening his mouth to make some sort of answering quip and then shutting it again. "Well, when you burn your house down in a drunken stupor that's to be expected. One would be worried about you destroying things that one values."

"Oh quite so, quite so," Bruce said, nodding as if his head was about to fall off. "I can hardly blame people for that."

As irritating as it was for people to assume that the fire was his fault and that he'd done it deliberately, Bruce saw no point in correcting Lionel's assumptions. Besides, obnoxious agreement was more likely to get the man to leave than indulging in his obvious desire to make Bruce drop the Brucie mask and yell at him.

Lionel looked at the books again, just enough worry in his eyes that Bruce wanted to frown at him. After a moment he sneered at Bruce and swept out of the library as if Bruce wasn't there at all. Bruce rolled his eyes and went back to checking the books he'd found. There was nothing definitive that would indicate one farm over the other and he found himself worried that Lionel would do something precipitous now that Bruce was here.

He left the books where they lay on the table and slowly sauntered back to his room to play with his cell phone for a little while. To Lionel's bugs it would look like playing but Bruce's phone allowed him to track the Royals as it drove away from the mansion and towards the second farm, the one that had undergone abortive renovations.

The Royals stopped there.

After three minutes with no further movement, Bruce rolled off of his bed and went downstairs to his car. The mansion was completely empty other than a guard who nodded warily at Bruce when he wandered by. Bruce's absentminded explanation that he was bored and couldn't sleep appeared to be accepted without thought.

Two minutes later he was on the road heading towards the farm where Clark Kent was most likely held captive. Lionel's Royals didn't move the entire time, which meant that Bruce had to hide his car a mile away behind a copse of young saplings that someone had planted to form a shield against the winter winds. It wasn't a perfect cover but given the darkness of the night it sufficed. Before he left his car, Bruce changed out of his tailored suit and into the stealth suit he'd hidden in the secret compartment under the back seat of his car. It wasn't the Batsuit, which would have been too revealing of his secret identity in such a small town, but it was close enough to give him the bearing of Batman as he headed out.

Crossing the fields separating Bruce's car from the defunct farm took long enough that Bruce was worried about Lionel escaping with Clark before he could get there. The farm itself was relatively unremarkable. The fields had long since gone back to weeds and grass that stood high enough that Bruce's careful progress towards the farm was hidden.

The house was long gone, bulldozed sometime months ago. Where the house had stood was a basement that had been covered over by plywood and tarps that had then been covered by earth and seeded with grass. The hole was virtually invisible and nearly soundproof.

Nearly. Bruce could hear someone screaming as he got closer.

Lionel had left one of his bodyguards by the Royals. He watched the road for any signs of traffic. Hopefully he hadn't noticed the lights of Bruce's car in the distance. It wasn't likely that his car had been seen, not with the copse of trees and tall weeds between the remnants of this house and where Bruce had parked but it was a risk that Bruce wished he didn't have to take.

He crept around the perimeter and carefully made his way to the hidden basement. Up close the screaming was much clearer. Lionel's voice mixed into the desperate, broken screams. Bruce found an old window well, now nearly buried under the tarp and its earthen cover. Some careful work let him open up enough of a hole so that he could see inside without being seen.

"You really are exactly what I need, Clark," Lionel said. "I'd hoped that I'd have the time to be thorough about this but there's a busybody in town and I'm afraid that tomorrow we'll have to end our little games. Don't worry. It won't hurt too much now that I've figured out how to extract your liver."

Lionel was standing directly in front of Clark, blocking Bruce's view of him but there was enough strangely green throbbing light in the basement for him to make out that Clark had been strung up by his wrists from one of the beams holding up the makeshift ceiling. Lionel had a scalpel in his hand. It dripped blood as he turned away from Clark.

"Please…" Clark whimpered. "Please let me go…"

"Eventually perhaps, once I have what I need from you," Lionel said entirely too smugly. He held up a vial full of blood, moving away from the Clark and then nodding at something as he studied the blood. "Excellent. This should do nicely for tonight. My men will be back with the surgeon in the morning, Clark. We'll move you to a more secure location in Metropolis after that. I do have such plans for you. Your organs will make lovely replacements for mine and I'm certain that with your blood I can unlock the secrets I need to rule the world."

Bruce pushed the tarp back down and ducked his head into the grass as Lionel left the basement and returned to his Royals. It took one entirely too long minute for Lionel to drive away. Just to be safe, Bruce waited another five minutes, watching on his cell phone's tracer as Lionel drove, not towards Metropolis as Bruce would have liked, but instead back to the mansion. That certainly wasn't what Bruce wanted but he'd deal with Lionel once he had Clark somewhere safe. Once he was sure that Lionel wasn't going to come back, Bruce hurried to the entrance on the other side of the basement and slipped inside.

There didn't seem to be any alarms or traps on the door. Apparently Lionel had trusted the complete obscurity of the location to keep his prize safe. Inside, it smelled of blood and urine. There was a bucket in one corner that apparently had been used as a toilet while on the other side of the basement there was an old Army cot with a threadbare blanket that must have been Clark's bed. Bruce frowned. The meteor rocks had to be what kept him under control. There was no sign of anything else there that could have done it.

As Bruce walked closer, Clark's head came up. He stared fearfully at Bruce and jerked against the chains holding him to no avail. When Clark opened his mouth to say something Bruce shook his head no and put a finger over Clark's bruised lips. Even in the greenish glow from the chains and covered with bruises he was beautiful.

"There may be bugs," Bruce whispered as quietly as he could. "I'm here to free you."

Clark sagged a little, the young man nearly crying from sheer relief. His face was mottled with bruises. The cuts that Lionel had inflicted on him slowly dripped blood down his body. It looked as though Lionel had beaten Clark repeatedly over the course of the last four days, as well as cutting him repeatedly. Few of the wounds looked as though they were healing properly, even the oldest ones.

Bruce frowned at the chains. They weren't made of steel, which was quite unusual. Instead, they seemed to be made of meteor rock or perhaps they were regular chains that had been coated in meteor rock. In the evil green light that came from them Bruce could see how the flesh around them cramped and twisted, as if the chains themselves were hurting him. They had to come off. He took a moment to study how they were attached to make sure that they weren't trapped or otherwise bugged. It didn't look as though they were so Bruce nodded and carefully picked the lock.

"I've got you," Bruce said as the chains slipped loose and Clark collapsed into his arms.

"Hurts," Clark gasped. "Chains, they hurt."

"I know," Bruce answered while lowering them to the floor and then pulling Clark away from them.

The further they got from the chains the dimmer their glow became. By the time he and Clark were at the steps up out of the basement they had gone dark. With no other light source in the basement, the hole that had been Clark's prison went as dark as Bruce's cave when he turned out the lights. To Bruce's surprise, Clark took a deep breath and sighed with relief once the light from the chains was gone. He pulled away from Bruce, not that Bruce released him.

"You're injured," Bruce murmured.

"I'll be fine," Clark replied equally quietly. "Can we just go?"

"I have a car about a mile from here, hidden in the trees," Bruce said.

Locating the stairs took another moment, and then they were outside. The moon came out from behind a cloud, painting the area in silvery light. Even with that dim illumination, Bruce could see that Clark's injuries had healed completely. The bruises were gone. The cuts had healed. All that remained was the blood and dirt that had coated his body. Bruce nodded once and then smiled at Clark's terrified expression.

"I won't expose your secret, Clark," Bruce promised.

"You, you can't know that," Clark said, swallowing and taking a step back. "Something could happen. Lionel could go after you and then you'd be in danger too."

"Actually I can be certain," Bruce said. He caught Clark's hand to keep him from fleeing. "Lionel already hates me. I'm Bruce Wayne. He's hated me ever since I befriended Lex in high school. And I have no issue with being in danger."

Clark's startled stare was full of confusion as well as disbelief. He shook his head no but to Bruce's relief he didn't pull his hand away. Bruce smiled at him, gently tugging him towards his car. Rather than go through the fields, Bruce led Clark to the road. It would be faster to walk on the road rather than sneak through the fields.

"I… have my own secrets, Clark," Bruce explained with Batman's grim expression as they walked. "I know how to keep them and how to protect them. Come on. We need to get you back to your parents' house and cleaned up."

"Lionel won't let me go this easily," Clark said. He followed Bruce somewhat reluctantly but he did follow. "He kept saying something about how I was going to save his life; that my blood and my liver would keep him alive."

"Good to have a motive for all this insanity," Bruce murmured.

Something caught on his toe, tugging gently. Bruce froze and gestured for Clark to do likewise. To his relief Clark stayed still as Bruce bent down and gently ran his fingers over the tripwire that he'd just set off. It was attached to a small monitor that was obviously a radio transmitter of some sort. Bruce cursed. To have been so careful all this time only to make a mistake at the last minute!

"What?" Clark asked.

"Tripwire," Bruce snapped. "Lionel knows that someone's been here now."

"Oh no, he'll go after Mom and Dad," Clark breathed.

"Wait," Bruce said as Clark moved as if to run away. He checked his phone, cursing again as he saw that Lionel was at the mansion. "He'll go after Lex first, Clark. Lex is the one who called me in. Lionel may not know my secret identity but he knows that I'd help Lex do almost anything. He'll take it out on Lex first and then go after you and your family before trying to come after me."

"What secret identity?" Clark asked, obviously jittery about getting back to help Lex as his body was angled in the opposite direction now.

Bruce smiled and stood, looking at Clark and then nodding once. A secret for a secret: it was fair and right. He could hardly expect Clark to accept his assistance when he knew nothing at all about Bruce. There was a little voice inside of him that told him to trust Clark. All the things he'd learned while locating Clark told him that Clark was reliable and honest on a level that Alfred would approve of.

"I'm Batman," Bruce said as he deliberately allowed his voice to slide down into the proper register. 

Clark's breath caught and a shiver went over him. He stared at the stealth suit, looked at the hidden prison he'd been kept in and then back into Bruce's eyes. After a moment of stunned contemplation Clark nodded slowly. He looked as though he was trying to fit the knowledge into his worldview.

"Okay," Clark said with awe in his voice if not in the words he said. "You're the first hero I've met though I've certainly met a lot of people with powers. Let's go save Lex."

"I'll drive us to the mansion," Bruce said as he turned towards where his car was hidden.

"No need," Clark said. He stopped Bruce and scooped him up like a child, cradling him in his arms. "I can get us there much faster."

"Wait," Bruce huffed but they were already moving in a blur of motion that Bruce's mind could barely follow.

When Clark stopped and set him down they were standing in front of the mansion's back door, the one that led into Lex's study. Bruce swayed, his inner ears trying to acclimate to the sudden movement. Clark supported him and astonishingly enough looked almost ashamed of having gotten them there so quickly. A little laugh surprised Bruce, escaping his lips along with a grin that probably looked entirely awed.

"Sorry," Clark said. "I forget sometimes how disorienting that can be for other people."

"Incredible," Bruce corrected. They both froze as something crashed in Lex's office. 

"Let's go!" Clark gasped. "We have to stop Lionel."

**Chapter Five**

Bruce caught Clark's hand, stopping him from charging straight into the office through the back door. It felt something like trying to stop a train with his bare hand. The amount of strength in Clark's body was incredible. He could feel it as Clark vibrated under his hand.

"I need to change clothes," Bruce said. "That's why I wanted you to wait. I can't be seen in this outfit."

"But…" Clark hesitated and then nodded reluctantly. "I can run back to your car and get your clothes, I guess."

"Under the back seat, driver's side, in the secret compartment," Bruce said. "Hurry."

There was a whoosh of air and then Clark was gone. Bruce had the time to blink twice and then Clark was back, bearing his clothes. He was abruptly buffeted by what felt like iron-hard blasts of wind. When it stopped he was completely dressed, down to his dress shoes. The armor was underneath his regular clothes and Clark was gone again with Bruce's boots. One-and-a-half seconds later he was back, looking desperately impatient.

"That must have seemed much longer to you," Bruce commented before he thought about it.

"Forever," Clark said dryly enough that Bruce grinned at him. "Can we go now?"

"Yes," Bruce said. "Be careful. I'm sure Lionel is prepared for you. Hopefully he won't be prepared for me."

Clark didn't hesitate at all as he ran through the back door to Lex's office. It was obvious that Clark was a charge in and ask questions later sort of person. Bruce let him go first more for a chance to study the situation though the simple fact that he couldn't physically stop Clark was in his mind as well.

In the bare second that Bruce allowed himself to study the situation Bruce noted that Lex had several bruises on his face, indicating that Lionel had returned to his old habits of physical abuse in addition to the verbal abuse that Bruce had heard over the last day. Lionel's left hand was fisted in Lex's shirt while the other hand swung down towards Lex's face. Their chess game had been knocked over, the pieces scattered across the floor.

Something heavy weighted down Lionel's right coat pocket, something that didn't look entirely like a handgun. Or perhaps it was a handgun along with something else. Bruce had no more time to speculate because as Clark ran forward to save Lex, Lionel turned and snarled at both of them. He shoved Lex backwards, making Lex topple over the overturned table.

"Lex!" Clark shouted.

His steps faltered as soon as he neared Lionel, something that seemed to surprise Clark but which didn't surprise either Bruce or Lionel. Bruce broke into a run to try and push Clark out of the way. He could see Lionel reaching into his pocket for whatever had weighed his jacket down. To his horror what Lionel pulled out was a knife made of glowing meteor rock.

"Clark, move!" Bruce shouted.

"Dad--!" Lex shouted, the word cut off as his head impacted the fireplace's elaborately carved stone mantle.

One second. Everything happened in the space of one second. It happened so fast and yet so slowly that it was like watching a replay of his parents' deaths. Lionel's hand and the meteor rock knife darted forward. Clark was already falling when the knife slid into his side. The strangled cry of pain that erupted from Clark's mouth joined Bruce's mother's scream and his father's shout in Bruce's memory.

"Lionel!" Bruce shouted.

One moment he had been by the door and the next he was smashing a fist into Lionel's face. Bruce put everything that he'd learned from Ra's, from his other instructors, from being Batman, into the blow. Lionel's face was absurdly surprised as his head whipped around. He collapsed to the floor in a heap, groaning only for as long as it took for Bruce to snap a blow to the back of the man's head. Then Lionel lay still and silent.

"Clark," Bruce said as he moved to Clark's side.

"Pull it… out," Clark gasped, twitching and shuddering as if the knife was doing far more than simply impaling him.

"You…" 

Bruce stopped himself from making the automatic protest that Clark would bleed to death internally if he did remove the knife. Given that Lionel had been planning on removing Clark's liver without any proper precautions and yet had apparently fully expected that Clark would survive the operation, Clark might not die at all. The knife glowed as Bruce pulled it from Clark's body. He had to throw the thing across the room before Clark stopped shuddering in agony.

As Bruce watched the wound closed up and then all but vanished. When Bruce rested his fingers on the spot where the wound had been there wasn't even a scar left behind. He hadn't seen the way that Clark's wounds had disappeared back at the demolished farmhouse basement. Seeing him heal that quickly and completely filled Bruce's heart with wonder and something else that he had no time currently to identify. Clark blushed, staring at Bruce with wide blue eyes that emphasized his age. Bruce pulled his fingers away abruptly, looking towards Lex.

"Lex!" Clark gasped as if he'd forgotten about Lex's injuries.

"He should be okay," Bruce said, joining Clark's scramble to move to Lex's side.

"He really needs to stop getting hit in the head," Clark complained as he checked Lex's head and then sighed with relief. "I mean, he heals but… Oh!"

"I've known about Lex's healing for years," Bruce chuckled. "We did go to school together. He was much worse at hiding it back then."

"Not very good at hiding it now," Clark muttered.

They shared a grin at Lex's obviousness while moving Lex to the couch. As Clark arranged Lex comfortably, checking his head to make sure that it wasn't cracked, Bruce used his and Lionel's ties to secure the older man so that he couldn't escape should he wake up.

"Not cracked," Clark sighed once Bruce came to join him by the couch.

"You're sure?" Bruce asked.

"Um, I can tell," Clark said with enough fear that Bruce thought that it was more a matter of his apparent phobia than it was worry about the many bugs that Lionel had scattered around the mansion.

That immediately reminded Bruce that he needed to make sure that Lionel didn't get to keep the footage of Clark healing from the knife wound. It was a pity that they couldn't use the footage of his attack on Lex but if Lionel was true to form then he would have turned off the bugs before attacking Lex anyway. Lionel was always very careful not to leave records of the illegal things that he did.

Bruce began removing the bugs in the office. As soon as Clark figured out what Bruce was doing, he helped. After Clark removed one bug that was completely invisible to the naked eye Bruce added some form of either magnified or X-ray vision to his mental list of Clark's abilities. It didn't take terribly long to remove or otherwise disable the bugs but that was long enough for Lex to wake up groaning at the pain in his head.

"Dad!" Lex gasped as he sat bolt upright and then nearly fell over while clutching his head.

"He's bound," Bruce said. He tucked all of the bugs into his pockets. "We need to call the police, Lex."

"Nothing will stick," Lex complained. Clark looked quite ill as he nodded agreement.

"I think it will," Bruce said. His smirk probably ranged into Batman territory but that was all right. Lex almost certainly knew and Bruce had already told Clark. "Clark, you'll need to testify that Lionel kidnapped you. Any allegations that you can make that make him sound insane will be more effective than simple threats to your family."

"He kept talking about how my blood was going to let him rule the world," Clark observed.

"Seriously?" Lex asked.

When Clark nodded confirmation, Lex turned to stare at his father with more confusion than the more-than-justified anger Bruce thought he should be feeling. Of course that anger was probably Bruce's anger at the number of bruises on Lex's face. Every time Lionel had taken the abuse physical before he drove Bruce out of Lex's life the bruises on Lex's body exceeded the ones on his face by a factor of three to one. There was little reason for Bruce to be angry at Lionel for taking advantage of Clark. They'd only just met, even though Bruce had learned enough about Clark to feel as though he'd known the young man for much longer.

"Yeah," Clark said as if he wasn't obviously aware of Bruce's anger.

"Calm down, Bruce," Lex snapped at Bruce without even looking at him. "Where are my security guards? They should have been in here ages ago."

As it turned out they had been sent to bed by Lionel the instant that he received the notice from the tripwire. Bruce wasn't sure that Clark or Lex realized the timing but he was certainly aware of it. Within ten minutes the sheriff was there. Two minutes after that Jonathan Kent arrived with his wife Martha, who immediately hugged Clark with the apparent intent to keep hugging him for the rest of Clark's life.

Bruce did his best to stay in the background as Lex explained about his father's beating. No one in the room was surprised by it, which forced Bruce to consciously control his breathing. That they would be aware of the abuse and fail to do anything about it was immensely frustrating for him even though logically there was little that the Kents could do to help Lex. Clark's explanation that Lionel had kidnapped him, threatened to steal his liver and then take him to Metropolis for further experiments was met by fury on the Kents' part and blank incomprehension on the Sheriff's part.

"How'd you get away?" Sheriff Adams asked suspiciously.

"I found him," Bruce said from his post in the corner where the meteor rock knife had ended up. It was quite securely hidden behind him so hopefully he would manage to remove it before Sheriff Adams did a proper examination of the room. He didn't like the thought of Clark's blood being tested and examined by the police.

"You?" Her voice was so scornful that Bruce had to shrug and use his mid-range Brucie expression.

"I'm used to staying up quite late and Lex has been quite worried about Clark," Bruce explained as if it was absolutely nothing and he couldn't understand why everyone was so surprised. "When Lex drove me around I saw a farmhouse that had been demolished and thought at the time that it was strange that the barn hadn't been taken down too. So after everyone went to bed I went to explore. To my surprise I found that the basement was intact and Clark was chained up inside of it. Of course I let him go and then we came back here so that we could tell Lex that Clark was okay."

"And why didn't you go straight back to your parents' farm?" Sheriff Adams asked Clark.

"Oh, well, Bruce said that Lionel was here and I was worried that he'd hurt Lex again," Clark said in a nearly as inoffensive tone of voice as Bruce's. "Obviously I was right to be worried about that."

Controlling the urge to grin at Clark's studied harmless tone of voice took a little effort. Bruce spoke next because it looked like Clark was running out of harmless explanations to offer to the still suspicious Sheriff Adams. "I'm rather glad that we did come straight here. The security guards were gone but we could hear Lionel screaming at Lex and beating him from outside. Of course we had to intervene. Lex is a friend for both of us."

Sheriff Adams sniffed as if she couldn't understand why anyone would want to befriend Lex Luthor though she nodded that she understood. "So who knocked him out?"

"I tried," Clark said, shuffling his feet and somehow managing to look a good six inches shorter than he was and at least three years younger. "Lionel threw Lex against the fireplace and then knocked me down. I'm not that good at fighting."

"I knocked him out after that," Bruce said with a little shrug. "I did learn some martial arts while I was traveling the world. It was kind of nice for it to be useful though I think I broke a nail."

He studiously ignored Sheriff Adam's disgusted look. Jonathan looked at least as disgusted but there was a narrow sort of expression on Martha's face, as if she was quite aware that he was acting. Fortunately for Bruce and Clark's respective efforts to look harmless after having been heroic, Lionel groaned and stirred at long last. 

As soon as he realized that he'd been bound Lionel struggled and cursed, threatening every sort of legal action imaginable at least until Clark shivered and hid behind his parents. That made Sheriff Adams look at him strangely enough that Clark gulped and ducked his head. Bruce could see that he was making a very good effort to look as though he didn't want to say anything. As far as he could see Sheriff Adams believed his reluctance.

"What?" Sheriff Adams snapped while pointing her deputies at Lionel who had nearly managed to work his way loose from the knots that Bruce had tied around his wrists and ankles.

"He said that my blood would let him rule the world," Clark said while letting Martha hug him protectively. "He kept saying that I was the key to all the alien technology hidden in the Kawatche Caves, that if he had my liver then he'd survive and that my blood would let him, well, rule the world."

Sheriff Adams stared outright at the mention of alien technology. Her deputies did the same. Interestingly enough the Kents looked as though they believed it, though both Martha and Jonathan did a very good job of keeping that off of their faces. It showed in their hands and shoulders, the quick glance that they exchanged while Sheriff Adams' back was turned. Lex sat still as stone, which was revealing enough that Bruce added possible alien invasions to the oddities he'd discovered in Smallville.

"Father has been acting quite strangely the last couple of years," Lex observed over the top of Lionel's increasingly vicious curses and threats.

"He said that he wanted to use Lex's liver but it wasn't a match so he decided to use mine," Clark added. "I think there's something really wrong with him. He seemed really sick sometimes, physically sick."

"I will say that his behavior never has been terribly stable," Bruce commented, hopefully mildly enough that Sheriff Adams would take it as an aside rather than as misdirection away from Clark's differences. "He had a psychotic break when Lex and I were very young though I believe that he got the records destroyed once he was out of the asylum."

Nothing of the sort had ever happened but Sheriff Adams accepted Bruce's assertion with nothing more than a raised eyebrow at Lex who sighed and nodded to confirm it. In fact it had been a very brief few hours in jail for assaulting Lex but the Sheriff didn't need to know that.

Either way it worked quite well to convince Sheriff Adams that Lionel belonged in the local asylum, Belle Reeve, for a full psychiatric and medical checkup that Lionel bellowed was illegal and against his rights. His bellows that he wanted his lawyer echoed through the mansion. Lionel fought viciously against the deputies as they attempted to secure him. When the orderlies for the asylum arrived he fought against them just as ferociously though his struggles were quite short-lived once the orderlies used their tranquilizers. Bruce wasn't at all surprised to see looks of intense satisfaction on all three of the Kent's faces as well as on Lex's face. He was quite certain that he had a similar, if hopefully somewhat more dimwitted, expression on his own face.

Once Sheriff Adams, her deputies and the staff from Belle Reeve left with Lionel, Bruce was able to relax a tiny bit. There would still be the trouble of keeping Lionel in the asylum but his behavior had always been odd enough that it shouldn't be too hard to keep him there long enough to ensure that Clark and Lex were both safe.

"Thank you so much," Jonathan said once they were alone again in Lex's study. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."

"You're quite welcome, Mr. Kent," Bruce said. "I'm glad that I could help. No one deserves to be treated that way, especially not by Lionel Luthor."

"He'll likely get out soon," Lex sighed while gingerly rubbing his bruised face.

"Not if I have my way," Bruce said smugly enough that the others stared at him. "Trust me, I have some experience at ensuring that the insane stay locked away, Lex. I'll call my lawyers and get them here by tomorrow morning. Besides, an independent medical evaluation will likely turn up some very interesting things. Lionel can't be healthy if he's talking about removing Clark's liver for his own use."

"And he won't sound sane at all because he kept saying that he'd take my liver away but he expected that I'd regrow it and keep living so that he could use my blood somehow," Clark agreed.

"We should get back to the farm," Martha said firmly enough that Clark looked apologetic and Lex put his no expression mask on again. She looked at Bruce with that slightly suspicious narrowness to her eyes. "Thank you again for all your help, Mr. Wayne."

"Oh please, call me Brucie," Bruce said. He very deliberately didn't use the Brucie tone of voice. "Everyone does. Mr. Wayne was my father."

As expected the narrow look intensified but there was amusement tugging at her lips. Jonathan shook his hand while Clark gave Lex a gentle hug. They left, towing Clark along behind them. Before Clark disappeared down the hallway to the front door he turned and waved to Bruce and Lex. His eyes locked onto Bruce's face rather than onto Lex's. There was no reason for Bruce's heart to skip a beat or for Lex to chuckle and rest his hand on Bruce's shoulder. Rather than delve into why he had responded that way or why Lex sighed and shook his head at Bruce, Bruce cleared his throat.

"Once they're gone I need to go rescue my car," Bruce told Lex. "I left it close to Clark's hidden prison when we returned here."

Lex looked around as if worried about bugs only to chuckle when Bruce patted his pocket reassuringly. He nodded and then took a sharp breath when Bruce retrieved the bloody knife from its hiding spot in the corner behind one of the statues. From the look on Lex's face when he took it from Bruce the knife was going to disappear and never be seen again.

"Go," Lex said. "I'll say that you're getting cleaned up or tending to your poor broken nail if Sheriff Adams returns to check the room."

"Thank you, Lex," Bruce said.

"No," Lex replied seriously enough to make Bruce pause as he headed for the door. "Thank you, Bruce."

**Chapter Six**

Alfred had been less than surprised that Bruce had managed to find a kidnapping situation in Smallville. From the way he had sighed and agreed to call Bruce's lawyers he had expected that Bruce would somehow locate the only exciting thing going on in the entire state. It seemed somewhat unfair until Bruce commented to Lex about it the next morning. Lex laughed and reminded Bruce of the goat incident when they were twelve. He supposed after that fiasco Alfred would have assumed automatically that combining Lex and Bruce in the same location would result in incredible things happening.

The couple of days that followed had been quite uneventful by Bruce's standards. His lawyers and Lex's battled with Lionel's lawyers while the doctors in Belle Reeve did what might be illegal examinations of Lionel's mind and body though neither Lex nor the various lawyers would admit to it. Bruce officially decided that he wasn't going to judge the professionalism of Belle Reeve's doctors. They at least managed to keep their residents in Belle Reeve, unlike the doctors in Arkham.

It hadn't taken much at all to gather up evidence of Lionel's 'failing mind'. He'd made his pronouncements about ruling the world through Clark's blood to enough of his employees that there was a veritable flood of willing witnesses once Lex offered a reward to those who explained what they had seen or heard. Many of them wanted anonymity but a significant number were willing to give depositions with their names attached. Some even provided pictures and recordings of Lionel's more than slightly bizarre behavior. It meant that there was very little for him to do. Lex seemed to have everything under control.

Frankly, the only reason that Bruce was still in Smallville was his curiosity as to the connection between Lionel's alien conspiracy theories and Clark Kent. Or more accurately, his more than likely inappropriate interest in Clark.

"Morning," Lex said when Bruce wandered into his office.

"Evening, you mean," Bruce replied with just enough of a smirk to get a laugh out of Lex. "Some of us have yet to make it to bed. It is only six in the morning."

"Only?" Lex laughed. "You could have gone to bed already, you know."

Lex's amused look made Bruce's cheeks heat. Clark had come over every morning before school to discuss what had happened overnight with Lionel and whether there was any danger to him or his friends. Even though there was no need for him to be there for the discussions, Bruce had made sure that he was there every time. He was there in the evenings for Clark's visits after school and chores. Fortunately enough, Lex seemed amused by Bruce's silent interest in Clark and so far Clark hadn't commented to say that the interest was unwelcome.

Instead he'd made several little comments that seemed to indicate that he actually welcomed Bruce's interest.

It would be easy to argue that he was paying attention to Clark because of the amount of power Clark held. He could argue endlessly in his head that it was concern about Lionel escaping, quite justified concerns about Genevieve Teague's goals in town, the mutants that appeared to be a constant concern in Smallville or a dozen other things. There were many perfectly valid reasons for Bruce to still be in Smallville when all logic said that he should have gone home by now.

All of them were lies. Bruce knew they were lies. His heart kept shouting at him that he knew exactly why he was fascinated by Clark but everything that he'd become over the years of his training as well as Ra's' attack on the Manor told him that he needed to keep his distance. Batman couldn't afford a weakness. His enemies would exploit that weakness, exploit Clark and his family, and that was something that he couldn't allow to happen. His grim thoughts about his Mission and Ra's' actions disappeared when Clark appeared at the door of Lex's study. 

"Morning!" Clark said so brightly that Bruce actually felt somewhat more alert than was normal for this time of the day. "Lex, I brought the latest load of produce to the kitchen. Dad said to tell you that it's the same price as normal. Apparently your assistant had a question or something."

"I'll check with Andre and see what the problem was," Lex said.

His lips twitched into a smile because Clark's eyes locked onto Bruce in nearly the exact same way that Bruce's eyes had locked onto him. It was a little embarrassing, to be honest, and Bruce did try to be scrupulously honest in the privacy of his own head. The sheer intensity of Clark's gaze made Bruce's breath catch, at least until he noticed the old matchmaking expression on Lex's face.

"Stop that, Lex," Bruce growled.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Bruce," Lex said but he didn't quite manage to get rid of the plotting look or the smirk.

"What?" Clark asked warily.

"He's got the matchmaking expression," Bruce complained. "He always looks like that when he's trying to set me up with someone."

To his surprise Clark went beet red but not from anger. If anything, he looked delighted by the idea, if obviously nervous about it. Bruce found himself running through all the reasons why he should stay in town (Jason Teague, Lionel escaping, answering all of his questions about Clark…) while meeting Clark's obviously hopeful eyes.

"I know you're still curious about Lionel's claims about ruling the world," Lex said slyly enough that Bruce glared at him. "What? I'm curious about it too. I simply refuse to ask."

"Lex…" Bruce groaned and rubbed his forehead. "Your father's insane. There can't be anything to it."

Clark went so still and so pale that both Bruce and Lex stared at him. He fidgeted and bit his lip while looking anywhere but their eyes. Lex shivered while Bruce frowned. As Lex opened his mouth to ask the million questions that had to be rampaging through his brain Bruce held up a hand to silence him.

"You're not allowed to talk about what you know, are you?" Bruce asked. "Yes or no is a perfectly adequate answer."

"Um, no, I'm really not," Clark said. He looked at where one of the best hidden bugs had been, frowning and then relaxing that it hadn't been replaced. "It's not safe to talk about stuff like that."

"Mmm, well with Jason in town I can completely understand that," Bruce sighed.

"Coach Teague?" Clark asked. "What does he have to do with that?"

He looked surprised enough by the comment that Bruce made a face. Jason always had been good at alleviating people's concerns about him when he first met them. Unfortunately he'd never been good enough at it to keep people from being suspicious over the long term. Genevieve always ruined his efforts by showing up and being creepily obsessed and overly possessive of her only son. Apparently she hadn't shown up yet because Clark clearly saw nothing wrong with Jason at all.

"Everything," Lex answered before Bruce could. "We went to school with him, Clark. There are severe issues with his being here and with his family."

Bruce nodded and opened his mouth to explain further but Lex's phone rang, cutting Bruce off. When he looked at the phone Lex's face went grim. He waved at them to stay when Clark moved as if to leave, which meant that it was probably something to do with Lionel. Hopefully it would be the doctor reporting that they'd managed to accumulate enough evidence to keep Lionel locked up for life.

"Yes?" Lex asked after he put the phone on speaker.

"Ah, yes, this is Dr. Davis from Belle Reeve, Mr. Luthor," Dr. Davis said. He sounded nervous, which made all three of them tense. "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you."

"If he escaped I hope you've called the police," Lex snapped while Clark nodded agreement.

"Um, no," Dr. Davis said with obvious confusion in his voice. "No, not at all. We got the results back on your father's health and, well, he's been hiding liver disease. It's progressed well past the point that any conventional treatments would be effective. Even a liver transplant from, ah, um, willing donor wouldn't work as other organs are beginning to shut down. We can do quite a lot to comfort and support him but there are no treatments that can save his life."

Lex stared at the phone for a long moment, his face completely blank. "Well, I suppose that explains why he began his slide into insanity. Very well, I'm going to come out to go over the results with you. When are you available?"

"More or less anytime you need me," Dr. Davis said. "I do have Sheriff Adams coming out in the next hour."

"I'll be there within the hour then," Lex replied.

They said their goodbyes with Dr. Davis offering his condolences. Lex brushed that off in exactly the way Bruce thought any abused child would when notified of their abusive parent's imminent demise, that is to say with a combination of regret, relief and impatience. That wasn't what captured Bruce's attention. 

Clark had gone still and pale again, though this time it looked as though he was feeling guilty for something. As Lex called his aid Andre to notify him of the change to his schedule, Bruce pulled Clark off to the side. When Bruce tugged him away the guilty look faded to a large degree into one of concern for Bruce. He couldn't help the little thrill of joy in his heart that Clark would be worried about him but that didn't mean that he had to allow it to show.

"What's wrong?" Clark asked quietly enough that it wouldn't disturb Lex's phone call.

"That was my question," Bruce replied. "You look like you feel guilty."

"Well, um, my blood was keeping him alive and relatively healthy," Clark admitted with entirely too much shame for Bruce's comfort.

"You are not required to help someone who kidnapped you, tortured you and was threatening to steal your liver!" Bruce growled at him. "You have no obligation to him at all."

"Agreed," Lex said from the desk. "And that means all the questions that I want to ask but shouldn't, will be postponed to another time, unfortunately. Do you want me to give you a ride back to your parent's farm, Clark?"

"In that really cool car everyone's been talking about?" Clark asked with enough enthusiasm that Bruce had to laugh. "Dad said it was really cool."

Lex burst out laughing as he gestured towards the door. Even though he probably should head to bed to get a few hours of sleep, Bruce followed Lex and Clark to the garage. Any excuse to enjoy the Aston Martin was a good one in his opinion. Clark appeared to feel the same way because after a quick loving look at the Porsche his eyes locked on the Aston Martin. He whistled and approached slowly enough that Lex and Bruce exchanged amused looks.

"It's beautiful," Clark breathed. "Where did you get this, Lex?"

"We bought it together in high school," Bruce said before Lex could answer Clark.

"That was before Lionel drove us apart," Lex agreed. "We managed to fix the engine and then I kept it and worked on restoring it since then."

"Wow," Clark whispered while squinting at the car and lovingly stroking the hood. He nodded after a moment and looked first at Lex and then at Bruce. "I'd love to take a ride in it."

From the look on his face he didn't mean back to the Kent farm. Lex frowned and then glared when Bruce deliberately put on his most hopeful and dimwitted Brucie expression while bouncing on his toes. It worked wonderfully to make Lex snarl and move between Bruce and the Aston Martin, though Clark was clearly quite confused by Lex's response.

"I fixed it up," Lex growled at Bruce.

"Yes, but I fronted most of the money to buy it and to repair the engine," Bruce countered.

"You're a menace behind the wheel," Lex complained while Clark started snickering quietly.

"Nonsense, I'm a perfectly good driver," Bruce said with deliberately too wide eyes. "I'll have you know that I haven't driven off of any rooftops in weeks."

The nonsequitor made Lex blink at him in confusion but Clark burst out laughing as he got it immediately. Batman's dramatic ride through Gotham had been played all over the country, perhaps the world, so the rooftop chase should be familiar with everyone. Once Lex thought for a second he got it and groaned while rubbing his forehead.

Bruce couldn't blame Lex for his proprietary love for the Aston Martin. It was beautiful and Bruce was delighted with everything that Lex had done to restore the old car. Still, Bruce had the feeling that Clark wanted to ask Batman some questions that couldn't be asked around the mansion or possibly around Lex. When Lex turned to Clark, Clark's hopeful expression was the living definition of puppy eyes.

"The two of you are going to be the death of me," Lex complained. "Fine, you can take the Aston Martin but if I see one tiny little scratch on her you're going straight back to Gotham, Bruce."

"Not a scratch," Bruce promised. "Better hurry or you'll be late to Belle Reeve."

Clark's grin was as bright as Lex's glower was dark. Despite that Lex gave Bruce the keys for the Aston Martin while lecturing Bruce on where not to go and what not to do. By the time Lex left in the Porsche Clark was laughing quietly about Lex's overprotectiveness of the Aston Martin. They both climbed in. Starting the engine for the first time since they'd parted was a joy that made Bruce grin like a little boy.

She drove like a dream, smooth and powerful. Bruce made a mental note to see if he could find another Aston Martin to restore. He wouldn't dream of taking this one away from Lex but it was lovely enough that Bruce wanted one of his own. Clark beamed as they drove but he put his hand on Bruce's arm to stop him from turning towards Clark's parent's farm.

"I um, actually wanted to show you something," Clark said hesitantly.

"Important?" Bruce asked.

"Related to Lionel, me, all the weird things in Smallville and maybe Coach Teague," Clark answered. 

His expression was unusually grim but his eyes held hints of hope. Bruce automatically tried to calculate exactly what Clark wanted to talk about away from Lex and the mansion with its many bugs but there was insufficient data for him to come to any conclusions.

Bruce stared at Clark for a long moment before asking, "Which way?"

The grimness on Clark's face disappeared into a huge grin of delight. Clark directed Bruce out of Smallville and towards Granville to a wooded area that had more hills than most of the surrounding area. They ended up in a thick patch of trees by the entrance to a cave. Bruce was very careful driving up the dirt road to reach the entrance. He had no doubt that Lex would wreak some form of complicated and highly embarrassing vengeance against Bruce if he did damage the Aston Martin.

Clark looked nervous again once they got out of the car. There was enough nervousness in his face and body language that Bruce caught his elbow to keep Clark from forging straight into the caves with Bruce at his heels. The sheer nervousness made him uncomfortable with whatever Clark was about to tell him. The last thing he wanted was to cause Clark any discomfort.

"Whatever this is," Bruce said, "you don't have to show me."

"I kind of do," Clark admitted. "Um, not because I'm being forced into it but because I think you can help me with something. This. Um. I haven't been able to trust anyone with all of this but you're, well you know, you. I think you can probably help me with it."

"More than Lex?" Bruce asked, surprised that he wouldn't turn to Lex first.

That made Clark sigh and stare into the distance as if he was seeing Lex visiting Belle Reeve despite the intervening miles. The worry and frustrated responsibility on Clark's face surprised Bruce. He wouldn't have expected an eighteen year old to be that concerned about another person, even if Lex was his friend.

"You've know Lex for a long time, right?" Clark asked. He sighed when Bruce nodded. "Well, there's a part of Lex that frightens me. I love him like the brother I never had but… has he ever taken responsibility for his worst choices?"

Bruce winced as he ran a hand through his hair. "Ah. No, not often. And not willingly."

"Yeah, I've noticed that too," Clark sighed. "And, well, Lionel isn't wrong, Bruce. He's not crazy at all."

"Wait," Bruce said while staring at Clark in shock, "there really is alien technology in these caves? I assume they're the Kawatche Caves that Lionel was ranting about."

"Yes," Clark said grimly enough that Bruce had to take it seriously no matter what his skepticism wanted to believe. "There is. And I truly am the key to it."

Bruce stared at Clark with his mouth open, trying and failing to find something to say in reply to that. He couldn't think of a single thing even though Clark's cheeks began to burn with a ferocious blush. Fortunately for Bruce, there was a little smirk starting to twitch at Clark's lips so he wasn't upset by Bruce's sudden de-evolution into actually being Brucie. Eventually Bruce looked away, shook himself and then looked back.

"If I can help protect the world from Lionel's worst ambitions, I'd be glad," Bruce said. "He's not the only megalomaniac I've had to deal with before."

Clark grinned at that, gesturing for Bruce to follow him. Bruce did so, feeling somewhat like Alice following the rabbit down the rabbit hole. He wondered if this would be something simple or whether what Clark had to show him would change everything about how he viewed the world.

**Chapter Seven**

The Kawatche Caves were a dryer version of Bruce's caves, minus the bats that haunted his cave. Bruce found that he missed the rustle and squeak of the bats that shared his lair as they walked deeper into Clark's caves. There was a strong dusty smell here that brought to mind centuries of dust building up without any living beings to disturb it. Clark walked confidently through the cave which wasn't as deep or as dark as Bruce would have expected. By the time they were beyond the light coming from the entrance there was light coming from ahead of them.

"The ceiling of this collapsed," Clark explained as they headed into a central chamber. "Actually, I sort of fell through it while out dirt biking with my friend Pete. It has been stabilized since then."

"That explains why you didn't stop for a flashlight," Bruce commented as he looked around the chamber. "I wasn't expecting cave paintings."

"Some of them are just paintings," Clark said. "Some of them aren't. The central pillar seems to be the CPU of an alien computer but I really can't be sure about that. A lot of the paintings tell stories of a visitor from the stars named Naman who could fly, shoot fire from his eyes and was invulnerable. He fell in love with a human woman but the man who was like his brother, Segeeth, turned against him and Naman had to return to the stars. The Kawatche believe that Naman will return someday to save the world."

Clark pointed to one painting that showed a man being attacked by a snake-like being. Rather than study the painting Bruce stared at Clark. A being with incredible powers that had come from the stars. That made sense of Clark's differences from the meteor mutants in Smallville and other meta humans that Bruce had encountered elsewhere. He was different from them because he wasn't human. Bruce found the thought of an alien living among humans to be almost automatically disturbing but his research had shown that Clark had lived among humans for his entire life, or at least since his adoption by the Kents as a small child. 

Quite clearly he looked and acted like a human being and everything that Bruce had seen showed that Clark was one of the best people that Bruce had ever met. His automatic distrust seemed ridiculous in the face of Clark's honest and earnestness.

It took a moment for Clark to realize that Bruce was staring at him instead of the cave paintings. He looked nervous until he realized that Bruce wasn't upset or accusatory. Clark blinked at Bruce and cocked his head to the side to stare back at him. Bruce shrugged as if the revelation was nothing surprising at all.

"This doesn't impress you," Clark laughed quietly while shaking his head.

"On the contrary, it's quite impressive," Bruce disagreed. "It's just not surprising. It does make sense of all the odd bits of data that I hadn't been able to explain before. I am somewhat curious as to why the meteor rocks affect you differently than everyone else."

"Uh, you figured that out?" Clark asked with obvious shock.

"Yes," Bruce said. "I found fragments of green meteor rock where you were kidnapped. Lex was able to confirm that you had atypical responses to them so I presume that the green meteors cause some level of pain."

"Try crippling pain while making my blood boil," Clark said with a shudder. "I hate that stuff. I need to do a better job hiding what I can do if you were able to figure all that out before you even met me."

Bruce nodded as he went to examine the central pillar that Clark thought was the heart of the alien computer. It looked like a fairly normal monolith though Bruce did wonder how it could have been brought into the cave and put into place by a less advanced civilization. Moving it was certainly possible with Stone Age technology but negotiating through the passage to this chamber would have been very difficult indeed. Of course, if it was created with alien technology that wasn't an issue.

"You only need to be better at hiding it from geniuses," Bruce said while running his fingers over the octagonal depression on the monolith. "Lex and I are both considerably more intelligent than average, though I hide my intelligence most of the time. You are leaving clues all over Smallville that indicate what you are but not so severely that it's obvious for an average person."

Clark sighed. "I really need to work on that. I don't want people to know what I am."

"There's always wearing a costume," Bruce suggested while smirking over his shoulder at Clark. To his delight, and private dismay that he was delighted, Clark laughed. Rather than admit just how much he enjoyed making Clark laugh Bruce turned back to the monolith. "I am somewhat curious as to how Lionel made the leap of logic that there would be alien technology here or that you're connected to it."

This time Clark's expression went grim. It seemed likely that he had no idea why or how Lionel had made the connection. Bruce thought that figuring out exactly what had given Lionel that knowledge was important but perhaps not currently. He put a hand on Clark's shoulder, smiling when Clark started. After a moment Clark smiled back, more weakly than before, but it was still a smile that warmed Bruce's heart.

"I really don't know," Clark admitted. "It was like he came to Smallville looking for something. I know he and Lex were here when the meteors fell. I wish I knew how he figured it out. He's always acted as though he was looking for hidden things around here."

"I need to see if he ever interacted with Genevieve Teague," Bruce murmured. "She's been looking for some stones that are supposed to convey great knowledge and power on their holders for decades."

"What?" Clark gasped. "Are you serious?"

"Quite," Bruce said. He raised one eyebrow at Clark's horrified expression. "Genevieve has been hunting the stones most of her life. Jason has been trained to be her perfect tool in discovering them. If Jason is here then it's more or less inevitable that Genevieve will follow and that there's something related to them here in Smallville."

"Oh man, that's really not good," Clark muttered.

He strode away from Bruce to a different part of the cave where lines of what appeared to be writing decorated the cave wall. Bruce followed, completely certain from Clark's reaction that he was reading the writing. Rather than interrupt Clark, Bruce waited until Clark grumbled something incomprehensible under his breath while tapping his fingers against one particular set of symbols. When Bruce touched Clark's elbow Clark threw him an apologetic look.

"Sorry, that was just…" Clark trailed off, staring at the writing again with a worried frown.

"What?" Bruce asked.

"Um, there are other places like this one Earth," Clark explained unhappily. "And there are three Elements of Power that I'm supposed to find. They're technology, not magic. I've been warned that if they fall into human hands it will bring destruction to Earth on a scale I can't even imagine. But I don't know where to start on looking for them so I haven't gotten that far. It's not like I have a lot freedom to find them what with school and my chores on the farm."

"Damn," Bruce growled. "That sounds almost exactly like what Genevieve is looking for. If she's interacted with Lionel in the past then that means he did know about them. That must be what made him suspect you from the beginning."

They exchanged worried looks. Clark did his best to translate the writing for Bruce but it was clear that his command of the language wasn't deep enough for him to truly understand everything that was implied by what was written. Bruce ended up pulling a pad of paper from his pocket and sketching down the writing along with Clark's translation.

From what they were able to determine, the three Elements of Power, which appeared to be the same stones that Genevieve had hunted for so long, were hidden at other locations that Clark's people had established in eons past. Bruce refused to let his innate skepticism run free in the face of apparent proof that the ancient alien theorists were right. By the time Clark had explained all the things that he understood and those that he thought he had some level of grasp on Bruce's little notebook was half full.

"There are people in this world that would do terrible things with the Elements, Clark," Bruce said. It came out more as a growl.

"Lionel certainly would," Clark agreed with a deeply unhappy expression.

"Lionel, Ra's, Genevieve, any of my opponents in Gotham, many others," Bruce agreed.

Clark's descriptions of the things he'd seen his people's technology do added to the things that he knew that Ra's, Lionel or Genevieve would do with it filled Bruce with horror. Lionel would absolutely attempt to rule the world. Ra's had already attempted it, though his attempts had stayed in the shadows. Jason had told entirely too many tales of his mother's grand dreams of reshaping the world in her own image.

It couldn't be allowed to happen. Even if Clark's people were gone, which Bruce wasn't accepting as true without further evidence, there might be other intelligent species out there that could be a threat to humanity. The Elements were intended for Clark to use. If they fell into someone else's hand the world would be in danger. Bruce automatically made himself consider the possibility that Clark would betray his human upbringing so that he became a despot over humanity but he couldn't believe it.

Clark simply wasn't that sort of person.

He was kind, caring, and incredibly gentle when you considered how much power his body held. Everything that Bruce had seen and learned told him that Clark was not a threat to humanity. In all likelihood the Kawatche had it right. The new Naman would save the world once he matured the rest of the way and mastered his powers.

"Can I help you find them, Clark?" Bruce asked.

"Really?" Clark asked with enough surprise that Bruce chuckled at him.

"Yes, really," Bruce said with a little smile that made Clark blush brilliantly.

"That, wow, um, that would be incredibly helpful," Clark said. He looked as though he didn't understand why Bruce would make the offer. "I just…"

"Don't know why I would help?" Bruce asked.

Clark's sheepish nod made Bruce smile wryly. He supposed that for an isolated young man who had been hiding in Smallville, Kansas his entire life the offer did seem like a strange one. Hopefully one day Clark would be able to leave his small town behind and see the world. Travel did wonderful things for broadening ones' world view.

"First, I don't want the Elements to fall into the wrong hands," Bruce said seriously enough that Clark stilled and stared at him. "I've dedicated my life to making Gotham safe. Protecting the entire world isn't much of a stretch for me. I know very well what certain individuals would do if they had that power. It isn't a pretty thought. In fact, it's terrifying.

"Second," Bruce continued while staring at the writing on the cave wall, "this is truly fascinating. I always wondered if there was life beyond Earth. To find out that yes, there is and that it's quite intelligent is a wonderful thing. It's also somewhat horrifying. There could be intelligent species out there that are hostile to humanity. Being prepared for them seems a prudent thing to do. Making sure that the Elements don't end up in their hands is important too.

"Third," Bruce said with such a wry smile that Clark grinned at him, "I hate the thought of the government getting their hands on the Elements."

"Oh man, I hadn't even thought of that," Clark groaned and shuddered. "No, just no. That… wow, no."

Bruce nodded as he wondered exactly what encounters Clark had had with governmental figures that he would respond that negatively to the suggestion. It was a question for a later date, perhaps after he talked to Lex and did some checking of the records. Truthfully, at this point in time it really didn't matter. The government wouldn't believe them even if they did approach them for assistance.

Clark nodded slowly, doubt still showing in his eyes. He looked at the cave writings and then back at the central monolith. Bruce thought that he was considering the offer and what he knew of Bruce. Unfortunately much of what Clark could know about Bruce was negative, both in regards to Brucie and Batman. Bruce was very careful about crafting his public image. Hopefully his interactions with Bruce since his arrival to Smallville and Lex's regard for Bruce would help balance the negative things.

"It bugs me," Clark mused.

"What does?" Bruce asked.

"I just got rid of one enemy and now I have another, maybe a bunch more, to worry about," Clark sighed.

"Perhaps," Bruce agreed. "But you also have allies. Lex would help you do almost anything, Clark. I'm certainly available to help as well and my resources extend in directions that Lex's don't. There are your friends, your parents. Perhaps even the computer in the caves."

"Mmm, it's kind of unreliable," Clark said. He shrugged. "I still feel like it's never going to end."

Bruce nodded and patted Clark's shoulder, prompting another smile that lit up the caves better than the sunshine pouring in through the opening in the roof as well as another blush. This time Clark seemed to see how his smile affected Bruce because he blushed even harder while shuffling his feet in the dirt nervously. The attraction that Bruce felt for Clark surged in his heart when he realized that Clark seemed to feel the same way.

"You're not alone in that," Bruce murmured because saying anything about his attraction was impossible at the moment. "And you're not alone in dealing with this threat, if you want the assistance. I would guess that Jason is in town to try and locate any information on the Elements."

"I'll need to talk to my parents about you helping," Clark said. He swallowed hard enough that Bruce thought that he had a lump in his throat too. "So far they've told me to be really careful about who I tell. I kind of doubt that they'll think this was a good idea, you know, telling you."

"If it helps you can tell them about my other identity," Bruce murmured quietly enough that the words wouldn't carry in the caves. They hadn't been very careful about their discussion so far but that didn't mean that he shouldn't be careful now. "There are a few people that I've trusted with it before and given the job that your parents have done raising you I think I can trust them too."

Clark's heart-warming smile abruptly returned. He nodded, shuffling his feet again as he seemed to work on what to say. After a moment Clark turned towards the monolith and the exit from the cave. Bruce nodded. They had been here for quite some time. People were bound to comment if they didn't leave sometime soon. Hopefully Bruce would be able to get more information about the caves and their writing over the next few weeks. It would help him track down where the Elements were.

"Do you think it's wise to tell Lex?" Clark asked as they slowly walked back to the Astin Martin.

"He looks at you like the little brother that he never had," Bruce said thoughtfully. "I doubt that he would do anything to harm you."

"True," Clark said, "but I worry about him saying something in the heat of the moment when he's arguing with Lionel. After all, Lionel isn't going to die tomorrow."

"Good point," Bruce sighed. "Lionel does know how to jerk Lex's chain. Still, he would do anything for you. He's always been the sort to do anything for those he loves. He was very like a brother to me before Lionel drove us apart."

They emerged from the cave into the sunshine. Bruce stopped in the shadows to let his eyes adjust but Clark strode out into the light, smiling as the warmth and light flooded over him. He seemed to almost glow as he stood next to the Astin Martin. Despite smudges of dirt and dust on his clothes and a stray gray mark on his temple, Clark was the most beautiful thing that Bruce had ever seen.

He turned and looked at Bruce, his eyes going wide as if he was seeing something equally beautiful as he gazed at his companion. It made Bruce wonder wildly for a moment if Clark saw the world differently than he did or if perhaps his fascination with Clark showed so clearly on his face that anyone could see it. Before Bruce could wipe his expression back to the bland, dimwitted one that Brucie always used Clark bit his lip and stepped closer. Clark stayed in the light as Bruce had stayed in the shadow.

"Um, how long will you be staying?" Clark asked nervously.

"Another three days," Bruce murmured. His hand reached out towards Clark of its own will. Clark took Bruce's hand as if his arm was moving independently as well. "Then I really will have to get back to Gotham. There are things that I have to do there."

"Three days," Clark repeated while gently squeezing Bruce's fingers. "Okay. Um, I think you should take me home now. I need to talk to my parents before we do anything else."

"Of course," Bruce said.

Neither of them seemed willing to let go of the other's hand but eventually they did so. The drive to the Kent's farm was quiet, both of them captured in their own thoughts. When they got there Clark invited Bruce inside for coffee and pie. Bruce was tempted to refuse but the sheer hope in Clark's eyes destroyed his intentions of going back to the mansion and getting some sleep.

"Why not?" Bruce said. "Lex said that your mother makes the best pie in all creation."

"She does!" Clark laughed. "You gotta try it. She made a fresh apple pie last night that I think you'll love."

"Lead on," Bruce chuckled. "I'd love to try it."

**Chapter Eight**

"This really is amazingly good, Mrs. Kent," Bruce said as he savored his piece of pie.

"I'm glad that you think so, Mr. Wayne," Martha laughed, "but please, call me Martha."

"Then I'd appreciate it if you called me Bruce," Bruce replied. "Mmm, I don't suppose you'd share the recipe? My butler Alfred is a genius at cooking. I'm sure he'd love to get the recipe."

"And you'd love to have a local source of the pie?" Martha asked with one perfectly arched eyebrow. She sipped her coffee, hiding a smirk behind the mug.

Bruce grinned at her and made the appropriate sounds and little hand-waving gestures to make it seem that oh no, it wasn't for his benefit at all. That prompted a laugh that felt all the more golden because it was so very real. Bruce had almost forgotten what it was like to be around truly down-to-earth people since his return to Gotham.

Jonathan and Clark watched the two of them, Jonathan with a proud smile on his face and Clark with barely suppressed laughter dancing in his eyes. Apple pie and coffee had turned out to be a wonderful way of getting to know the elder Kents. More importantly, it was a safe way for them to get his measure away from people that Bruce had to either impress or deceive. The requirements of being Batman rarely bothered him too much. It was his choice and he felt most alive when he was patrolling, saving people. But there were times like now that he regretted that he wasn't able to be open with the people around him.

Of course, for all that they seemed to be completely open, Bruce knew that they had their secrets too.

Once the pie was gone (entirely too quickly for Bruce), they drank coffee while asking Bruce questions. Rather than spin his normal stories of travelling around Europe and staying in ritzy hotels, Bruce told them about China and Tibet, the time he'd spent wandering the Middle East. He described the air around Everest and the embroidery patterns that women worked on children's clothes as charms to protect against illness and bad luck.

When Jonathan countered with stories of learning to farm with his father, Clark smiled and nodded as if it was a story he'd heard a million times and could picture in his head. Bruce could almost picture it from Jonathan's description. When the conversation stilled Bruce sighed and told them about Alfred making tea and having Bruce carry it up for his mother and father so that they could all share together in one of the little drawing rooms on the third floor.

That made Martha smile as she refreshed their cups. Her parent's home sounded smaller than Wayne Manor but equally impressive. Her memories of being with her parents had more to do with helping them prepare for parties than quiet moments as a family but she was obviously equally fond of those memories, if the shine in her eyes was anything to judge by. Jonathan took her hand and squeezed her fingers, prompting Martha to laugh breathlessly before turning entirely too perceptive eyes on Bruce.

"Why don't you come over for dinner, Bruce?" Martha asked. 

From the way she glanced from Bruce to Clark's enthusiastic smile she was well aware that Bruce was quite interested in her son. Unfortunately Jonathan didn't look anywhere near as pleased with the idea but he didn't seem to hate it if the little smile he gave Clark was anything to go by.

"Please?" Clark asked, not just of Jonathan but also of Bruce.

"If you don't mind the company," Bruce said just a bit hesitantly or perhaps more than a bit. His stomach was abruptly full of butterflies at the thought of 'dinner with the parents'. "I had promised to have dinner with Lex tonight but I suppose I could cancel with him."

"Nonsense, dear," Martha said with an almost predatory smile. "Invite Lex along too. It's been quite some time since he's come over."

To Bruce's relief the smile was aimed at Jonathan who cringed and grumbled something about checking the tractor before hurrying outside. Martha's little snort of annoyance was so clearly aimed elsewhere that Bruce looked at Clark who sighed quietly and shrugged. When Clark gathered up their dishes Bruce joined him in the kitchen to help dry everything. It was nearing ten and he was tired enough that he knew that he had to get back to the mansion for some sleep but leaving wasn't high on his priorities at the moment.

"You don't have to help," Clark offered as he passed the first cup over to Bruce to dry.

"I know," Bruce said. He started drying it with a little smile. "I used to do this with Alfred when I was younger. It's about the only thing he'll let me do in the kitchen."

"You can't be that bad!" Clark laughed.

"I cook very well indeed… over a campfire," Bruce said with an attempt at serenity that completely failed in the face of Clark's grin. "Stoves in kitchens I'm not quite as successful with, I'm afraid. Alfred's quite convinced that I can burn water."

Washing the few dishes they'd used didn't take very long but Clark seemed inclined to wash their breakfast dishes as well so Bruce stayed at his post and dried them too. Clark finally pushed Bruce out the door with firm orders to get some sleep about half an hour later. He was tempted to protest but the Aston Martin was waiting for him to drive it home so he didn't.

Sleep was a welcoming well of darkness that Bruce gratefully allowed to consume him for about six hours. One of Lex's servants woke him up with enough time to get cleaned up for dinner. It was tempting to wear one of his suits as it was a dinner but Bruce decided that he wouldn't play Brucie this evening. He so rarely got the chance to simply be himself anymore.

"That's not what I expected you to wear," Lex commented from the door.

"Mmm, even I have jeans, Lex," Bruce said with a wry smile for Lex's simple slacks, charcoal pull-over shirt and leather jacket.

They more or less matched though Bruce's shirt was a deep blue rather than charcoal and Bruce had chosen jeans over slacks. Either way it was almost like going back in time to high school, before their friendship had been ruined by Lionel's machinations. Lex chose his Porsche to drive, glaring a little at Bruce's pointed and entirely affected sigh at the rejection of the Aston Martin.

"I'm surprised that you needed an escort, Bruce," Lex commented as he drove at his normal break-neck speed down the country lanes. "You're normally much bolder than this."

"Nonsense," Bruce drawled. "Martha was quite explicit about inviting you to dinner. I think she's decided that Jonathan's distaste for you is, shall we say, unjustified? She seems to have plans of reconciling the two of you."

"That will be the day," Lex snorted. His smile was beyond wry and into pained when Bruce glanced over. "His hatred of my family is somewhat legendary."

"Pity," Bruce mused. "You don't seem to have done anything to deserve it."

Lex sighed and shrugged, automatically making Bruce want to investigate to see what he'd been up to that might taint his image in the Kents' eyes. It was something that he would have to remember to get back to later though. They pulled into the Kents' driveway, Lex smoothly avoiding all the potholes that pockmarked the lane.

"Hey, you guys are right on time," Clark said from the front porch. "Come on in. Mom and Dad were just setting the table."

He grinned at Lex but Clark's smile seemed to brighten several degrees when he looked at Bruce. Lex's little chuckle of amusement made Bruce glare at him. Bruce hoped that he wasn't misinterpreting things. From Lex's pat on his shoulder and wide grin, he wasn't.

Dinner was wonderful at a level that made Bruce want to introduce Alfred to Martha. The food was stellar, better than almost anything that Bruce had eaten away from the Manor. Clark and Bruce had ended up opposite each other, apparently at Clark's request because he spent most of the dinner watching Bruce's face. Martha and Lex shared smirks over Clark's fascination as dinner progressed from an excellent roast with garlic red potatoes to a new cherry pie that put the apple pie he'd sampled earlier to shame.

"Now don't start that again," Martha scolded once they were sipping coffee. She raised an eyebrow at Bruce's exaggeratedly surprised Brucie expression. "Nonsense. I won't hear of you behaving like that in our house, young man. You don't need to pretend with us, not after you saved our son from that monster."

"I do need to keep in practice," Bruce said and then laughed as Martha bristled at him. "Never mind. I can always practice on Lex."

"Spare me," Lex groaned. "Please!"

"Not sure I understand why you do it," Jonathan commented with Clark's nod of agreement.

"Brucie is a mask," Bruce explained slowly. "Given my… private activities… I chose to pretend to be something that I'm not. Most of my life revolves around wearing masks of one sort or another. I find it to be the most effective way to make sure that I'm successful in my goals while protecting those that I care about."

Clark nodded slowly while Lex smirked at the fact that Bruce had very carefully not said outright that he was Batman. Preserving Lex's plausible deniability was less important now that Lionel was being held in Belle Reeve but he had requested Bruce not to say anything openly, as had Clark, so it seemed appropriate.

"Sort of like Sir Percy in _The Scarlet Pimpernel_ ," Clark commented.

"Exactly like that actually," Bruce said with an approving grin that made Martha chuckle. "That was one of my favorite books, right after Sherlock Holmes. Sir Percy was one of my inspirations when I was younger."

"Oh, don't tell them about the fencing," Lex said and started laughing.

"Why Lex, I have no idea whatsoever what you're talking about," Bruce said with Brucie's full force dim-wittedness.

Clark grinned and took the bait, pestering them as they cleaned up the leftovers and washed the dishes until Lex told the whole story of how Lionel had believed that Bruce was a terrible fencer until Bruce challenged him to a duel and won easily. The way he told it was funny enough that Bruce would have expected that Clark's attention would be fully on Lex. Instead Clark watched Bruce's expression, occasionally bumping his shoulder into Bruce's as they washed and dried the dishes together.

The truly surprising part to Bruce was that Jonathan didn't appear to have any issues with Clark's obvious interest in Bruce. He very obviously had major (if unstated) issues whenever Clark focused on Lex but Bruce appeared to have somehow garnered Jonathan's approval. Bruce wasn't sure how he'd done it but he decided as they said their goodbyes that he was grateful for it.

"Is he usually this obvious about his interest?" Bruce asked as they drove back to the mansion.

"Actually, I've only ever seen him this interested in one other person," Lex said. "Lana was his childhood sweetheart. They've been an on and off thing ever since I met Clark. I've honestly never seen him this blatant in his regard for anyone else."

Bruce went silent as he digested that. He found that he was grateful for the top being down. It wasn't often that he blushed like a school boy but somehow Clark brought it out in him. Lex glanced over at Bruce after a few moments and then spent the rest of the drive home chuckling with amusement at him.

The next day Clark showed up in the afternoon as if he couldn't resist visiting the mansion. Lex's chuckles returned because Clark gravitated to Bruce's side and stayed there once they'd all settled around the chess game that Lex and Bruce had restarted. That could have been because Bruce was on the couch but Bruce couldn't manage to convince himself of it. His heart kept fluttering at him whenever Clark's knee pressed against Bruce's thigh.

"You two do this a lot?" Clark asked after Bruce made four moves in a row that had Lex growling in annoyance at him.

"Fairly frequently," Bruce chuckled. "At least until Lex gets annoyed with losing. Then we switch to other things like arguing about sports."

"Hockey is still better," Lex muttered while staring at the board as if he wanted to set all of Bruce's pieces on fire.

"Nonsense," Bruce countered as he always did when they started these arguments. "Football's so much better."

Clark's grin of delight only encouraged Bruce to defend his viewpoint as the argument and game progressed to their respective logical conclusions. Bruce, of course, won the chess game. Lex, on the other hand, was especially erudite and well-spoken in his arguments to support hockey as the best game ever invented. To both of their amusement, Clark joined into the argument, landing squarely on Bruce's side.

By the time Clark had come up with some really passionate if highly emotional defenses of football's right to the title of Best Game Ever, Bruce was half convinced that Clark was doing it simply for the chance to rub their legs together. The constant contact had Bruce's mouth going dry and Lex's eyes dancing with amusement at the two of them.

"Oh man, I should head home," Clark said when one of Lex's servants came in to ask if Clark would be having dinner with them. "I've got chores and homework to do."

"No dinner?" Bruce asked.

"No, sorry," Clark said. He looked honestly disappointed about it. "I can't tonight."

"I have a couple of calls I need to make before dinner," Lex said to Bruce with that old matchmaking expression firmly back in his eyes. "Why don't you see Clark out for me?"

"Pest," Bruce grumbled even though his heart wasn't in it.

He wanted to spend as much time around Clark Kent as he possibly could. There were so many things that he didn't know. More importantly, Clark was a wonderful person to spend time with. That he could someday also be an ally against crime was so far back in the list of reasons to stand and head for the door at Clark's side that Bruce wanted to blush about it. He wasn't sure when Clark had become so fascinating but he couldn't be unhappy about it.

"You don't have to, you know," Clark commented once they'd left Lex's office.

"I know," Bruce said with a wry smile and shrug that made Clark laugh. "But I want to. Besides, I'd rather not overhear Lex's calls. It's rather rude from the businessman side of things."

The sun was nearing the horizon as they headed outside. Bruce could see that there was about half an hour before dusk set in. It should be plenty of time for Clark to make it home, even if he refrained from using his powers. Bruce followed him along the path towards the lake and then through the woods.

"You know the path?" Clark asked after a moment.

"I followed it to see what I could learn about you," Bruce explained.

"From this?" Clark asked, looking quite stunned. "But… what do you see that I don't?"

He looked at the footprints on the path and Bruce could tell that Clark didn't see them. The spacing, depth, even their presence seemed to be invisible to Clark. Bruce smiled and gestured for Clark to follow him towards one spot under the trees that had a wealth of tracks. As he showed Clark his, Lex's and Bruce's many tracks, Clark's eyes went wide. The trick of measuring the distance between the tracks made him nod thoughtfully as if it was something he'd heard of, but the depth measurements and the way Bruce could infer Clark's mood from the scuffing or length of each trail had Clark whistling in amazement.

"I had no idea that there was this much information left behind," Clark murmured. "You… you really had a good idea of what I could do before you found me, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did," Bruce said. He stood and brushed his knees off. "Lex had a good idea as well but he was basing it off direct observation of you over a period of years. I… have spent considerable time and effort learning to make deductions like this. It's not a common skill if you're worried about people figuring you out."

"I sort of am," Clark admitted. "I mean, I knew that Lex knew at least a little bit. I know that Lionel figured it out somehow and I still want to know how he saw it before he even got here. I just didn't realize that a simple thing like footprints would give so much away."

"For the right person it does," Bruce said. "And for the record, I quite agree with you about Lionel's apparent pre-knowledge. That bothers me."

They traded speculations on that front as they walked the path to the place where Clark had been kidnapped by Lionel. Clark shuddered when they neared the spot where the tiny meteor shard lay buried in the soil. It wasn't apparent whether the shudder was for the memory of the abduction and that which followed or for the tiny meteor shards themselves. Bruce frowned, mentally calculating how quickly Clark escaped their influence. Clark looked both ways before heading across the road. He turned and looked back at Bruce with a shy, hopeful smile.

"Um, see you tomorrow?" Clark asked.

"Absolutely," Bruce said. "I may follow your path, just to see what it's like. There's not much else to do in Smallville, after all."

Clark laughed and shrugged as if that was to be expected. He waved goodbye, hesitating a moment longer before slipping into the field and walking away while whistling happily. Bruce stayed on the side of the road until Clark was out of sight. Then he dug out every shard of meteor rock that he could find.

They skipped fairly well when Bruce finally located the pond on Lex's property. At least in the pond they were unlikely to hurt Clark as he passed by.

**Chapter Nine**

"I can see why he takes this path," Bruce mused as he crossed the road and walked up the driveway to the Kents’ farm. "It's actually quite lovely."

It was also a very private, well hidden from observation and relatively direct route to get from the mansion to Clark's home. While the path did pass several other farms it was hidden enough that there was little risk of Clark being seen as he made his way back and forth, even in the middle of winter when the plants that filled the fields were gone. Bruce wondered as he made his way up the lane whether Clark had planned it that way or if it was simple chance. He rather hoped that it was deliberate. There was only so far you could trust Smallville's apparent don't ask, don't tell policy to hold.

"Bruce," Martha said when he reached the house. "So good to see you! Clark's in the barn with his friend Chloe if you'd like to join them. I was just making lunch. I'll add something for you too."

"Thank you, Martha," Bruce said even though he hadn't planned on eating while he was here.

The barn was something of a surprise. He'd expected an ordinary barn but there was a loft that appeared to have been partially finished. Bruce could hear people talking, Clark and a young woman who must be Clark's friend Chloe. Rather than startle them, Bruce decided that it was better to announce himself.

"Clark?" Bruce called.

"Bruce!" Clark appeared at the railing of the loft, grinning down at Bruce with enough delight that it made Bruce grin in response. "Come on up. I was just telling Chloe about my um, escape."

Bruce mouthed 'does she know?' at Clark. He made a face that seemed to indicate that Chloe suspected that there was something special about Clark but that he didn't think she knew everything. That made the discussion far more complicated but Bruce was certain that they could handle it together.

Chloe turned out to be the short blond young woman that Lex had pointed out during his tour of Smallville. She was clearly highly intelligent and very curious about what Bruce Wayne was doing in Clark Kent's barn. She eyed him with enough curiosity that Bruce decided that the mid-range Brucie act was as much as he could get away with. Hopefully, she'd write off the reports of his more exaggerated acts back in Gotham as Bruce being drunk. As Bruce settled onto the couch next to Clark (while trying to ignore exactly how close Clark was), Chloe cocked her head at him and licked her lips as if she wanted to start asking him a million questions.

"So Clark was telling me that you found him and rescued him," Chloe said once Clark was done introducing them.

"Pretty much, yes," Bruce replied. "I tend to stay up quite late normally as I'm prone to insomnia. That hit when I came to visit Lex. It's very quiet here. So I went wandering that night instead of trying to sleep. Besides, any chance I could get to disrupt Lionel's plans is a good one so when I saw him leave I decided to follow him. I certainly didn't expect to find Clark hidden in a hole that way."

"Really?" Chloe asked so sarcastically that Clark snickered and Bruce had to force down a blush.

"I may have had some suspicions that Lionel was involved ahead of time but I have dealt with him for years," Bruce said.

"He really thinks that dimwit act works?" Chloe asked Clark. "Seriously?"

Clark burst out laughing. He couldn't seem to find words so Bruce sighed and shrugged while smiling wryly at Chloe. The switch from dimwittedness to wry and resigned intelligence made Chloe's eyes narrow at Bruce. She was very intelligent, possibly intelligent enough to be a real threat. Bruce noted that in the back of his mind while gesturing aimlessly with one hand.

"I've been alone most of my life," Bruce explained. "It's generally… safer… to be perceived as not terribly bright. There are a great many people in Gotham that would love nothing better than to control me and my money. If they underestimate me I'm much safer than I would be otherwise."

"So what happened with your house?" Chloe asked. "You didn't actually burn it down in a drunken fit, did you?"

"A… very dangerous man that I thought was my friend burned my house down and tried to kill me," Bruce said with a tired little sigh. "He was the one who set loose the fear toxin that nearly destroyed Gotham. If Batman hadn't stopped him the entire city would have been destroyed."

"Whoa," Chloe said, startled. "I suppose I can't report that?"

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't," Bruce said with just enough regret that Chloe sighed and settled back against her chair. "I'd have to kill the story if you tried. Sorry, but it would endanger too many people, including me. The people behind him still exist. They… may have been involved with the death of my parents, not that I've been able to prove it."

Clark's hand settled on Bruce's shoulder. It was warm and heavy with all the things that they couldn't say while Chloe was there. Bruce smiled at Clark, shrugging the shoulder that didn't have a hand on it. The comfort was quite welcome. Talking about Ra's and his parent's death wasn't something that Bruce enjoyed doing at any time. When Bruce turned back Chloe was watching them with something very like approval in her eyes.

"Tell me you're not adding another billionaire to your collection," Chloe teased Clark.

"Chloe!" Clark squawked. He went blazingly red.

"He collects billionaires?" Bruce asked.

"Oh yes," Chloe said, grinning at both of them. "Now that he's got two billionaires I can say it for certain."

"I do not," Clark complained. "Guys!"

"Well, if you're collecting billionaires I should introduce you to Oliver Queen," Bruce laughed. "He went to school with Lex and I, though honestly Oliver's always been a bit of a bully. You're probably better off not going for the full set."

Chloe burst out laughing as Clark glared at Bruce. The glare didn't have anywhere near the level of heat to convince Bruce that he was truly upset but it looked good. Bruce batted his eyes and used his best Brucie 'whatever is wrong' look. Holding that for several consecutive seconds was enough to make Clark start snickering too. Their laughter quickly pulled Bruce into laughing as well.

"Never mind," Chloe said as she flapped a hand and wiped her eyes. "I suppose you're just adding another smart person to your list of friends."

"Chloe, let it go," Clark complained.

"Fine, fine," Chloe said as she waved one hand at Clark's blush. "It's just that you do such a lovely job of finding all the really bright and insightful people around you. Kind of cute, actually, though I don't know where Lana fits into that."

The mention of Lana made Clark groan and drop his chin to his chest. Bruce patted his back while restraining the urge to glare at Chloe for making him so uncomfortable. He really had no cause to do so. Lex did the same thing to Bruce all the time and it was simply part of their friendship. Apparently Clark and Chloe had a very similar friendship.

"We're just friends now, Chlo," Clark complained. "You know that."

"I'm still not sure that it's safe for you to be friends with her," Bruce grumbled not quietly enough to keep Chloe from hearing it.

"Wait, what?" Chloe asked. She sat up and stared at Bruce. "Why don't you like Lana? You don't even know her."

"It's not Lana that I have a problem with," Bruce said slowly after Clark nodded that he should go ahead and tell her. "Are you aware that she's involved with Jason Teague?"

Chloe nodded, an intense frown on her face. She looked as though she was mentally recording the conversation. Bruce approved of that while wondering exactly what Chloe planned on doing with her life. If she was going to be a reporter then that tendency would serve her very well in the future. Or perhaps a lawyer, policewoman or something similar.

"Jason… is trouble," Bruce said with careful consideration of each of the words he shared with her. "His mother Genevieve has groomed him over his entire life to be a mole, to go in and discover information about her pet project. It's absolutely inevitable that there's something in Smallville that Genevieve wants, possibly someone. I have no idea how Lana became entangled with the Teagues but she is a danger, just as Jason and his mother are dangers."

"You can't just leave it there," Chloe complained. "What's Genevieve after? What sorts of things do they do to the people they target? Is Lana in danger? What about me? Clark? Come on!"

"You want to be a reporter, don't you?" Bruce asked a good bit more wryly than he'd intended. Chloe started and stared. "Trust me when I say that I recognize a reporter when I meet one, Ms. Sullivan."

"Chloe," Chloe said. She looked quite pleased about having been identified. "Give!"

That made Clark laugh. He shrugged when Bruce looked at him, his expression saying without words that Bruce should have expected Chloe to be a bulldog going after a bone once she got a little information. Bruce sighed. He spent the next half hour carefully filling Chloe in on the basics of Genevieve Teague's obsession with the Stones of Power. Five minutes into the interview, because it very much turned into an interview, Chloe pulled out a notebook and began writing down notes about everything.

At first Clark seemed perfectly okay with Bruce filling Chloe in but as Chloe began muttering about all the things that she needed to research he looked more and more uncomfortable. By the time that Bruce admitted (more or less factually) that he didn't know anything else, Clark looked as though he wanted to nail Chloe's feet to the floor so that she didn't run off.

"All right," Chloe said as she put her notebook away and stood, "I'm going to head home. Clark, you might want to let Lana know all this about Jason. She doesn't listen to me on romance and she seems quite stuck on Jason. She might listen to you."

"Chloe, we barely talk anymore," Clark protested. "Don't you think you should leave this alone? It's not like Jason's done anything to hurt anyone."

"Clark," Chloe protested with a groan that perfectly conveyed her dismay at his trusting nature, "just because he hasn't hurt anyone yet doesn't mean that he won't. You heard Bruce."

"Do be careful," Bruce warned Chloe. "The Teagues are fond of… permanent solutions to problems."

The way he said it was intended to convey 'lethal' rather than 'permanent'. Clark's eyes went wide and he turned to Chloe with an appealing expression. She shook her head at Clark and met Bruce's gaze squarely. It looked as though she was quite aware that she was taking a risk investigating Jason and Genevieve Teague but she didn't care.

"I'll be careful," Chloe promised entirely too cavalierly. "I'll call you later, Clark."

She hurried down the steps and out of the barn. Clark groaned and collapsed back against the battered sofa with his hands over his eyes. Bruce felt somewhat bad about pointing Chloe at the Teagues but not as bad as he probably should. If Chloe truly intended to be an investigative reporter then she would be in danger more often than not. If it wasn't this story it would be another one.

After a moment Clark dropped his hands to stare at the ceiling. The expression on his face made Bruce think that he was listening to something very far away. It took a moment before Clark turned back to him, beautiful eyes troubled.

"I just know I'm going to have to rescue her soon," Clark complained. "She's always rushing off and getting into trouble."

"I'm sorry for pointing her in their direction but that's a common trait of all investigative reporters, Clark," Bruce said with a wry smile. "They all do that. She might make a difference, you know. The more information you all have the better off you'll be."

Clark nodded a little sadly. "She takes it to extremes. I worry about her getting hurt or killed."

"I doubt that she'll put herself in that much danger," Bruce said. "You should let her do her thing while keeping an eye on her in the background. You can't smother people with protection. It doesn't work."

This time Clark's expression went entirely too perceptive for Bruce's comfort. It felt like he was looking straight through Bruce. Fortunately for Bruce, Clark seemed amused by whatever he saw. He chuckled as he sat up and turned towards Bruce. The fond expression on Clark's face made Bruce's heart beat a little faster until he forced his heart rate back down to normal.

"How good are you at doing that?" Clark asked.

Bruce spluttered a laugh, not at all surprised that his cheeks went hot from a sudden blush that even his skills at biofeedback didn't control. "I have to admit that it's not one of the things I'm best at. I do try. I'm not always successful but I do try and let the people I care about live their lives freely."

"I guess that's all that anyone can do," Clark chuckled. He shrugged as if he wasn't certain that he'd ever manage to do it himself. "It's really hard though. I have all these powers and I know that if I wanted to I could make things better for everyone around me."

"There have to be limits, Clark," Bruce said. "Look at the farm. You don't do everything, do you?"

Clark shook his head no, a proud smile stretching his face. "Dad does almost everything himself."

"He's visibly proud of it, too," Bruce said. "If you did it for him what sense of pride and accomplishment would he have? I can understand protecting people when they're in danger. It's important to do your best on that front. But you can't do too much for them or you take all their accomplishments away from them."

"And… investigative journalism is Chloe's biggest thing," Clark said thoughtfully. He nodded and then made a face. "Okay, fine. I'll listen and watch but I won't stop her. I suppose I do need to have a better idea what the Teagues are up to anyway."

Bruce nodded. He opened his mouth to add something else but Martha called them for lunch from the house. Clark bounced to his feet, offering Bruce a hand as if he needed one to get up. Feeling a little silly and a lot out of his depth, Bruce took Clark's hand as he stood. They stared at each other for a long moment.

The urge to lean in and kiss Clark was nearly overwhelming. From the wide eyes and red cheeks, Clark felt much the same way. All of Bruce's training and instincts yelled at him that getting involved with Clark was a bad idea. They were too far apart in age, lived too different of lives for it to work. But a little voice in his heart whispered that Batman could use an ally like Clark, that Bruce could use someone that he could trust totally. It added that Clark needed someone who would back him up and protect him with all the resources that the Kents didn't have.

"Clark!" Martha called again, making both of them start and step away from each other.

"Coming!" Clark called back. "Um, lunch?"

"Sure," Bruce said. He cleared his throat because the single word came out entirely too rough. "I'd love some lunch."

**Chapter Ten**

Bruce stared out the window of his bedroom in Lex's mansion, wondering why it felt like his life might end in a couple of hours. It was barely six in the morning, entirely too early for him to be awake after his late night Go game with Lex. He'd barely gotten three hours of sleep before he woke to stare out the window at Lex's little portion of Smallville, Kansas.

Of course, he knew why his planned departure in four hours felt like doom approaching. The reason was named Clark Jerome Kent. His real question was how he'd become so attached to Clark in such a short period of time. A thousand different reasons ran through his mind, from Clark's grin to his incredible intelligence to his power to the innate goodness of his soul and onwards into more hedonistic reasons such as the pout of his bottom lip or the way his ass filled out his baggy jeans.

"Smitten," Bruce grumbled at himself.

He rolled out of bed to do a thousand one-handed pushups per arm, two thousand sit-ups and then to pull on exercise clothes because he might as well go take a walk. Or maybe a run. If he ran Clark's trail two or three times it might help him calm his mind down enough that he didn't make an idiot of himself when he said goodbye.

To his relief, Bruce didn't encounter Lex or any of the staff as he made his way outside. The trails around Hob's Pond were empty as well, other than a few birds, an extremely annoyed squirrel, and several frogs that Bruce thought might be related to the fire breathing frog Lex had shown him. He ran down the trail towards the place where Clark had been kidnapped. Pine branches rustled in the early morning breeze.

"Bruce?"

Bruce stopped in his tracks, turning to find Clark staring at him. There was no breeze anymore. He chuckled as he walked back to Clark's side, amused that he'd mistaken Clark for a purely natural phenomenon. Perhaps this was how he managed to go mostly undetected for so long. Clark's expression was quite puzzled but he smiled at Bruce's laughter.

"What are you doing out here?" Clark asked.

"I couldn't sleep so I decided to get some exercise," Bruce said with a casual shrug that couldn't hide the tightness in his shoulders. "You?"

"I um, wanted to talk to you," Clark said with nearly as much nervousness as Bruce. "Can I take you somewhere private so that we can talk?"

"Certainly," Bruce replied. "We shouldn't take too long. I promised to have breakfast with Lex and I do have to leave at around ten."

"Heh, not a problem," Clark chuckled. "I've got to get to school by eight anyway."

He scooped Bruce up, holding him in his arms as if Bruce weighed less than a feather. Their run across Smallville was so fast that Bruce barely had time to realize that they were moving before they'd come to a stop outside the Kawatche Caves. As Clark set Bruce down he wondered why he hadn't blacked out from the sudden acceleration and deceleration but put the thought aside for another time. Hopefully there would be a chance to discuss Clark's powers in greater detail sometime in the future. Hopefully.

"Why here?" Bruce asked instead of the million and one questions running through his mind.

"No one comes here, especially not at this time of the morning," Clark explained. "And, well, it's sort of central to me and what I need to do, you know?"

Bruce nodded thoughtfully, gesturing for Clark to lead on. Instead of heading back into the Caves, Clark took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He stared at Bruce, hope and fear battling in his expression. Bruce did his best to wait with a calm, open expression despite the nervousness making him feel like he had butterflies in his belly.

"Right," Clark finally said. "I've thought about it and talked a lot with Mom and Dad. They don't particularly like letting someone else in on my secret. They really, really don't. Every time anyone's come close to it people have been in danger or gotten really badly hurt. But they both agree that we can't allow the Elements to fall into the wrong hands."

"Oh," Bruce breathed, switching the gears in his head away from potential romance and back to work.

"Yeah," Clark said as he licked his lips. "It really helped that you trusted me and them with your secret. Dad's not so sure about the whole dark and scary thing and Mom doesn't much like that you hide your face so completely but well, they do understand that Bruce Wayne is really well known so it's not like you have much of a choice. So um, they both agree with me that if the offer is still open I'd really like to get your help on finding the Elements. I'm not sure how much help I'll be to you in return but well, I am really fast and strong so I should be able to at least give you a hand from time to time."

Bruce grinned at Clark's babbling. A rather larger than was appropriate for the discussion portion of his brain was focused on how attractive Clark was but enough of him was able to pay attention to what Clark actually said. While Bruce wasn't sure that Meta assistance would be a good thing in Gotham where dramatic escalation seemed to be the norm, Bruce was more than happy to have Clark's offer of assistance.

"Of course it's still open," Bruce said once Clark finally paused to draw a breath. "I'd be glad to help, Clark. You'll have to be a great deal more cautious in Gotham but when I need assistance I'll definitely think of you."

Clark ducked his head to unsuccessfully hide his gorgeous grin. When he looked up again his cheeks were pink. Bruce was quite aware that he was a bit redder than he should be but there didn't seem to be much to do about that, especially when the tip of Clark's tongue touched his top lip for a moment that Bruce was certain was going to be engraved in his memory. His heartbeat thudding in his ears distracted Bruce as Clark rummaged through his pockets before pulling out his cell phone.

"So we can contact each other," Clark said, offering the phone to Bruce.

"Good idea," Bruce agreed.

He programmed his number into Clark's phone while memorizing Clark's number. When he got back to his rooms in the mansion Bruce would follow suit with his own phone and Clark's number. Bruce handed Clark's phone back to him and then shivered because Clark bit his lip while looking at him as if he was as aroused as Bruce was.

"I ah, was wondering if assistance was all that you wanted," Clark said. "I mean, I know that I'm young compared to you but well, I was hoping that there might be a possibility of… more?"

"I'd like that," Bruce replied, his voice automatically sliding down into a husky tone that was much closer to Batman than Bruce Wayne. "I'd like that a lot."

Bruce reached out to put one hand on Clark's arm. To his surprise Clark caught his hand and pulled Bruce close enough that they could kiss. All this time Bruce had assumed that Clark was virginal but the kiss he got was anything but. Clark kissed like someone who knew exactly what he wanted and who always got it. His lips were firmer than Bruce had expected, just as Clark's body was marginally harder than a normal human's but the touch of Clark's tongue against Bruce's lips made him shudder and comply with the silent request despite the slight oddness of Clark's physique.

As Clark's tongue explored Bruce's mouth in a manner that was more what he'd have expected from certain pros he'd encountered in Exeter, Bruce fisted his hands in Clark's baggy flannel to keep him right there. Surprises of this sort were more than welcome, especially as Clark's large hands wrapped around his hips to pull them together all the way. The pressure of Bruce's now very erect penis against Clark's equally hard groin made Clark gasp and then groan into Bruce's mouth. His head fell back, exposing his neck to Bruce's lips.

"Bruce," Clark moaned in response to the feel of Bruce biting down experimentally on his throat.

"Mmm?" Bruce murmured around the fold of skin he was worrying with his teeth. It didn't seem to cause Clark any pain at all, which wasn't terribly surprising give his invulnerability.

"That, oh God, you have to stop," Clark gasped when Bruce bit down so hard that his teeth ached.

"Too much?" Bruce asked. He licked the spot and chuckled at the way Clark shuddered. There weren't any teeth marks at all, much less a hicky.

"No, you'll make me come," Clark admitted with enough embarrassment that Bruce chuckled as he pulled back.

That Clark was blushing furiously was no surprise. The sheer sexual self-knowledge that Bruce could see in his eyes was a surprise. When Bruce raised an eyebrow Clark winced and licked his lips as if suddenly ashamed of himself for something. Bruce shook his head and caught Clark's face to pull him into another kiss that started out reassuring but quickly went hot and passionate enough that Bruce could feel his control being eroded.

"You are not a virgin," Bruce whispered once they let each other's lips go.

"Ah, no," Clark admitted. "I um, kind of ran away my sophomore year in high school and got in a lot of trouble in Metropolis. Including turning tricks for a while until I found out that stealing cash from ATMs was much faster and easier. It's a really long story and I'm still trying to atone for all the things I did."

Bruce nodded thoughtfully as he factored that into his understanding of Clark Jerome Kent. "I understand doing things that you need to atone for, Clark. I understand it very well. Sometime when we have a lot of time to talk, ask me about Ra's al Ghul and Joe Chill. They're… episodes I'm going to regret my entire life."

Clark's eyes went wide and then wry and amused. He ran one hand over Bruce's cheek. The feel of Bruce's stubble starting to grow out made Clark shiver and lick his lips. There was similar stubble on Clark's chin if a bit downier than Bruce's. Somehow they both leaned back in for another kiss that felt as inevitable as the tides. Bruce had to pull back, shaking his head while laughing shakily.

"We really do need to stop," Bruce agreed. "I have to say that I'm glad that you're not as virginal as you seem. I was uncomfortable with the thought of taking things further."

"I have to pretend while I'm here," Clark said with a shrug that was resigned. "It's Smallville, Kansas. Kids having sex might happen but no one likes it or wants to admit it. Being interested in guys as well as girls really isn't something that people would accept. Mom and Dad are fine with it but pretty much no one else would be. I've been physically mature for a couple of years, since I was fourteen, really."

"You are from… elsewhere," Bruce commented. He wasn't entirely certain how his hand ended up on Clark's lean stomach but Clark certainly didn't seem to mind it. "There's no way to know what age your people reached adulthood."

They share a smile that promised so much. Bruce's erection was making a thoroughly inappropriate tent out of his sweat pants. He'd have to get that back under control before they went back to the mansion. Clark's jeans looked downright painful but he didn't seem to notice it as he stared at Bruce's face. After a moment Clark sighed and put his hand on top of Bruce's.

"I want more," Clark admitted. "I know, I know. We live very different lives but… I really do want more, Bruce. After Metropolis I know what I like and you're pretty much perfect as far as I'm concerned. Given everything that's happened with Lionel and Lana's changes I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to who I was before I ran away."

"That sounds wonderful to me," Bruce said. "I have a reputation to uphold but I suppose seducing a shy farm boy from Kansas would work just as well as dating supermodels."

Clark snickered at that, pulling on the mannerisms he would expect from a male prostitute instead of his normal shy demeanor. Somehow, seeing Clark stand with one hip thrust out and an incredibly sexy expression on his face made Bruce's brain cease all functioning. He grabbed the edges of Clark's flannel shirt and pulled him in for another kiss that had them both moaning and rubbing against each other.

There was a brief whoosh. When Bruce opened his eyes they were inside the cave where no one could see him. His eyes shut again immediately because Clark's hand delved into his sweat pants, warm and perfect on his erection. Bruce groaned something that was intended to be 'you don't have to do this' but it came out so incoherently that he knew Clark couldn't have understood it.

"Let me," Clark asked, his breath hot against the side of Bruce's neck. "Please? I know you have to leave soon and I have to get to school. Please. Let me?"

"There… there will be more opportunities later, Clark," Bruce forced himself to say. "Not necessary."

"No, but I want to give you this," Clark countered. "Please!"

His hand was warm and firm on Bruce's erection, moving a little too hard at first but Clark loosened his grip until it was exactly what Bruce liked best. Bruce groaned and then nodded, tugging on Clark's hair until he let Bruce kiss him. At the same time Clark's hand made him shudder and moan desperately. He'd never been with a lover who read his responses this well this quickly. Arousal rose with every movement of Clark's hand and for once Bruce abandoned his efforts at control. They had places to go and things to do. This was one stolen moment between the two of them. There was no reason to hold back. Bruce wouldn't allow the many, many reasons that always lurked in the back of his mind to well up, not when Clark tasted and felt so good.

Bruce started thrusting into Clark's hand. He couldn't hold back a smile at how that made Clark whine. Clark did something too fast for Bruce to perceive it and then their erections were pressed together, sliding in lube that Clark had produced from who knew where. After a moment for an appreciative groan, Bruce grasped Clark's hips and began thrusting against him as hard as he could. It seemed to be exactly what Clark wanted because the little moans turned into desperate pleading that made Bruce shudder with lust.

"Yes!" Clark shouted.

He came abruptly. The warmth and wet pushed Bruce over the edge a moment later. Clark's hand was still wrapped around both of their erections, even as they waned. Bruce kept his hands on Clark's hips, keeping them pressed together so that they could rock and kiss and eventually pull back enough to look into each other's eyes. The worry in Clark's eyes prompted Bruce to tug him close for more kisses that were probably going to make Clark late to school.

"Call me," Bruce murmured, his voice in a husky deep tone that had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Batman. "Tonight. Maybe sooner."

Clark laughed and pressed a gentle kiss on Bruce's lips. "I will. I really, really will. Hold on a sec."

Bruce blinked at Clark who grinned before blurring. Strong warm hands buffeted Bruce for a moment and then they were both cleaned up and restored to normal. There was no sign of what he'd done but Bruce felt like normal other than the sweat from his run. Clark caught Bruce's hand, squeezing it gently.

"I need to get to school," Clark said as if it was the worst news possible.

"I know," Bruce said. "Don't worry. We'll have plenty of opportunities to… talk as we work to find your Elements of Power. There are some things that I'd like to show you in Gotham too."

"Should I take you back?" Clark asked. His cheeks went red with the mention of 'talking' together.

"Yes," Bruce said. "Lex has to be wondering where I went. After your disappearance I think he's going to be a bit twitchy for a while."

That made Clark look guilty as he scooped Bruce up in his arms. It wasn't the most dignified way to travel but Bruce didn't object. There wasn't time to object because one moment they were in the caves and the next they were back in the woods surrounding Lex's mansion. Bruce could hear people talking about where he could have gone as Clark set him down so his absence had been noted.

"Go," Bruce murmured as he kissed Clark quickly.

"I'll call," Clark said as he grinned and then disappeared in a rush of wind.

Bruce took a deep breath and started jogging along the path back to Lex's mansion. It was strange but he felt much better than he had when he'd arrived in Smallville a few days ago. Lex's security guards spotted Bruce a moment later, prompting Bruce to put on his Brucie smile and wave at them while slowly jogging closer. Nothing had really changed and yet everything was different now.

He had Lex back in his life as his friend. Clark promised to be something much more than a mere friend, an ally, a lover, and maybe even more. He'd stopped Lionel, saved who knew how many people at Luthorcorp from Lionel's insanity. And there were new projects to work on. Bruce hadn't thought that he'd find so much when he came to Smallville but then he should have known that things would be far more interesting than expected. Lex always managed to find the most incredible messes to get involved with.

And Bruce always learned the most when he began looking at the truths hidden in the details of everyday life. Finding love in an abandoned basement in the middle of a Kansas cornfield wasn't the strangest thing that had ever happened to him.

It was just the most wonderful.

The End


End file.
